The Game
by Satan Abraham
Summary: Every ten years, a game is played. A game involving twenty-four high school students, fighting each other to the death. It's the sixteenth game. Who will make it out alive? AU
1. Chapter 1

**Karakura Group – Ichigo Kurosaki – 7:06 AM, July 16 **

Ichigo Kurosaki woke with a start, head pounding. He was in a small, cramped room that obviously was not his bedroom , and finding shortly that he wasn't alone. Five of his classmates were sprawled in various parts of the tiny room.

Uryu Ishida was leaned against the wall sleeping soundly, glasses missing and in what Ichigo took to be some sort of pajamas that had strange blue crosses on them. Not far Chad, one of Ichigo's closest friends for a while, was in the middle of the floor, taking up most of the space and snoring lightly. Orihime Inoue and Tatsuki Arisawa were both sleeping on the only piece of furniture in the room, being a small couch. Mizuiro Kojima was the one awake besides Ichigo, and he was leaning against the wall, with his knees pulled to his chest, playing with his phone.

"Mizuiro?"

The small, dark-haired teen looked up. "Oh, Ichigo. I was wondering when you'd wake up," he said, shutting his phone with a snap and standing up. "Do you have any idea where we are? And why we don't have any service?"

Ichigo shook his head. Some people never changed. Ichigo wondered if they should wake the others? He didn't want to be the one that woke up Tatsuki that was for sure, but they needed to figure out where they were, and what was going on. Preferably sooner than later, and waking everyone up would be the best way to accomplish that. "I'm going to-"

"Wake them up? Yeah, I was thinking of doing the same thing. I'll wake up the girls, you try Uryu and Chad." Mizuiro crept over to the couch, stepping over Chad's arm. He shook Orihime awake first, and then moved on to Tatsuki.

"I wouldn't-" Ichigo's protest fell on deaf ears.

Mizuiro was on the ground in mere seconds, Tatsuki kneeling on his chest. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked, glaring at Mizuiro. Ichigo blinked and then leaving them to figure it out, moved to wake up Chad and Uryuu.

It took a bit of work to wake up Chad, but eventually, they were all awake. A loud crackling, like a microphone just being plugged into the speakers (though it came from no where in particular) was heard. "This thing on?" a male's voice muttered. Orihime looked around wildly, searching in vain for the source of the sound.

"Yes, it's on," another voice, this one female, said. "They can hear us. Stop wasting out time and get to explaining everything."

"Shall I explain it?" Another male's voice, this one a good deal deeper than the first's, asked.

"Yeah, go for it."

"Welcome to The Game," the third voice said. "I am Sosuke Aizen, sponsor of the Hueco Mundo Group. With me are Kisuke Urahara, sponsor of Karakura Group, Yoruichi Shihoin, sponsor of Rukongai Group, and Soi Fon, sponsor of the Seireitei Group. Outside of the cramped quarters you are currently inhabiting, you will find six backpacks. Each of these will contain your uniform, your weapon, and, for the young man in Karakura, your glasses. Kisuke, would your group like to go first?"

"Okay!" the first voice, now identified as Kisuke Urahara, said. "Karakura group, step out of your room! And we can see you, as well as hear you, so we know what you're doing at all times," he added as if it were not important in the least.

Tatsuki released Mizuiro and was the first one to head for the door. Orihime and Ichigo followed, then Chad and Uryu. Mizuiro brought up the rear, rubbing his ribs.

Just as the mysterious Aizen had said, outside the room were six backpacks. Leaned against two of the backpacks were long packages. "Okay, so now what?" Ichigo yelled.

A low chuckle was heard. "You don't have to yell, we can hear you. Anyway, first up, Ichigo Kurosaki! Please open up the package leaning against the backpack farthest to the right!"

Ichigo ripped open the wrapped weaponry. Inside was a long, black katana. "You're giving Ichigo a sword?" Tatsuki muttered. "Somehow that doesn't strike me as a good idea."

"Next! Mr. Uryu Ishida, please open up the package next to the second backpack." Uryu walked quietly towards Ichigo stumbling a few times. Orihime rushed ahead of him and pulled his glasses out of the side of his backpack.

"Here," she said, handing the eye-wear to him. The teenager nodded a thanks, and slowly opened the package.

Inside was a longbow and a quiver full of arrows. Uryu took it in stride, sitting cross-legged on the floor, inspecting them. "How would you know to give me a bow? I've taken archery lessons for years," he said, raising his voice so he could be heard.

Urahara ignored him, instead moving on. "Yasutora Sado, also known as Chad! You generally wouldn't get a weapon, but, to be fair, you've got some brass knuckles. Tatsuki, you've got some bandage wraps, just so you can wrap your wrist when you injure it. Now, Mizuiro..."

Mizuiro stared at the backpack in front of him, unzipping the side slowly. Out fell a small pair of silver headphones.

"You were a special case, so I spent a few days creating these. They're not headphones. Look at them closer. They're actually a pair of blades, one on each end of the wire. Now, get dressed in your uniforms. Yoruichi, over to you."

**Rukongai Group – Hanataro Yamada – 7:26 AM, July 16**

Hanataro glanced around at the others. They'd already put on their "uniforms", as Mr. Urahara had called them, while the Karakura Group was given their weapons.

The uniforms were weird, to say the least. They were puffy, and black. Comfortable, but kind of loose. Pajama-like.

He was one of the two boys in his group. The other male was his best friend, Rin. The other four were rather, well, to put it delicately, attractive females. First was Isane Kotetsu, his science partner and her sister, Kiyone. Nemu Kurotsuchi, who was in his math class, then Rukia Kuchiki, the girl he'd had a crush on for quite a long time.

She didn't know he existed, but, hey! Maybe this would change that. The female voice that had spoken before took over. "Hello Rukongai Group! I'm Yoruichi, your sponsor," she said. "We're going to go through the same procedure as the last group did. I've elected to give all of you weapons, however. You've already taken a peek into the backpacks, as I see you've got your uniforms on, but thank you for not touching your weapons. It's more fun this way."

Kiyone rolled her eyes. If Yoruichi was able to see the small movement, she took no notice of it. "First, Hanataro Yamada."

"Me?" Hanataro squeaked, completely taken off guard. Sure, she'd said they'd all get weapons. But...somehow he didn't think that it would apply to him. He'd never held a weapon in his _life._

"Yes, you. When you were figuring out whose uniforms were whose, did you keep track of which backpack it came in?"

"I did," Nemu said. "Hanataro, yours is the one over there, by Rin."

"Thanks," Hanataro said, scurrying over to the backpack.

"Hanataro, you've got a first-aid kit and a katana. Isane?"

The silver-haired girl looked to Nemu for help. She pointed to the bag at Isane's feet. "Oops," Isane said, unwrapping the package leaning beside it. Fortunately, they'd had the good sense to keep everything that was with the backpacks with the backpacks.

"You've got a first-aid kit as well as your rather...unique blade." The blade looked, to say the least _weird_. It would have been normal, except for the two extra blades protruding from the hilt. Next was Kiyone. She, like Hanataro, had a simple katana. Nemu's was also like this.

"Rukia! How are you doing?" Yoruichi asked. Rukia blinked.

"Good?" she said, a bit freaked out. Hanataro understood. He'd be a bit freaked out, too.

"You've got a pretty one. Go on, open it!" Rukia had apparently kept track of where her backpack had ended up, because she bounded towards it right away. She ripped away the paper, revealing a pure white blade with a ribbon dangling off the end of the hilt.

"Ooh..." Isane and Kiyone said appreciatively. Rukia stared at it, an expression of awe on her face. Yoruichi laughed over the "loudspeaker"? (How was there a loudspeaker, when they were outside? Were they outside?)

"Rin, you've got a normal one, too. Soi Fon, it's your turn!"

**Seireitei Group – Izuru Kira – 7:38 AM, July 16**

"Seireitei Group...well...I see you found your uniforms..." Soi Fon trailed off. Izuru scratched the ground with his foot, stirring up the dirt. Shuhei stood near him, eyeing without any real attempt at discretion Rangiku. Being Rangiku, she hadn't left when they were all changing, instead, she just turned her back and expected them to do the same. Izuru had. He wasn't so sure about the others, though. Yumichika probably was too busy with marveling at his own beauty to care, and it was difficult to take a stab at the narcissist's sexuality in the first place, unless he has a twin somewhere.

Some things you just shouldn't think about.

"I see that, like the others, you haven't opened up your weaponry yet. We'll start with, um, Kira?" Izuru carefully opened up the package at his feet. A hook-like, sword, thing, whatever, was what he was met with. After running his fingers over it, he deduced that the inside was the sharp part. How more of an unusable weapon could you get?

"Next, Ayasegawa."

She'd gotten a hold of herself now, and seemed to give orders with a snappiness that wasn't there before. Yumichika stripped his weapon of the wrappings immediately, looking curiously at the sickle-shaped blade. "Push the button," Soi Fon instructed. He pouted at being ordered around by an ugly, bossy voice, but obeyed, pushing the button found on the hilt. Immediately, it sprang into four blades. A gasp of admiration emitted from his mouth.

"These are pretty creative," Kaien muttered to Renji. The red-headed teen nodded.

"Hisagi!" Izuru's friend's weapon was larger than most of the others, with the exception of Kaien's, and he dove into it enthusiastically, actually tearing his eyes away from Rangiku. When he saw his weapon, he actually looked a bit insulted.

It was a, well, pinwheel sort of thing. Two scythes, one inverted, the other pointing outward, were positioned on the end of a chain. Looking closer at the weapon, Izuru noticed that there was another set on the other end of the chain. It could be useful, Izuru observed, if he was good enough.

"I think you guys can figure out the rest for yourself," then Soi Fon said after a small pause, "probably."

"Soi Fon, it's not fun if they do it for themselves!" Yoruichi complained.

"Okay. We'll keep doing it as we have been," Soi Fon changed her mind immediately, getting a snicker from Renji. "Abarai! You next."

Renji's weapon was one of the larger ones as well. It was about six segmented blades, each with pick-like protrusions sprouting from the front and the back of each one. He gave it a experimental flick, and the blades went flying out, narrowly missing Yumichika, who was still admiring his blade.

"Shiba." Upon opening the package that held his weapon, Kaien was met with a trident-like weapon. A grin stretched over his face. "And Matsumoto."

Rangiku's weapon was just a regular katana. She looked disappointed at not having a special weapon, but got over it quickly. "So, now what?" she chirped.

**Hueco Mundo Group – Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez – 7:50 AM, July 16**

They hadn't waited to open up their weapons. Why should they? Their deaths. No use in letting other people control them more then they already were. "You didn't wait," their sponsor's voice echoed throughout their desert. Nnoitra stretched, grinning.

"Sure as hell we didn't," he grunted. Nnoitra's weapon was a huge, axe-like weapon. Grimmjow didn't feel like explaining it. Most of the others had normal katanas, except Tesla's.

Like everything the kid did, his weapon had something like Nnoitra's. There was an odd circle-thing near the hilt, but other than that, it was kind of normal.

Their sponsor sighed. "Very well. I am Sosuke Aizen. Defeat the others, and you will live."

Luppi – Grimmjow hadn't paid any attention to him, still sore about the thing that had happened back in eighth grade - giggled. _Giggled._ Damn...thing.

"Welcome to The Game."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: I know, I know, not much happened this time. Just to make this clear, if you didn't see in the summary, this is an AU. Every one of the contestants is a high school student, various grade levels. People will start dying by the third chapter. :D<strong>

**Oh, and fun fact – the starting of this story takes place on my birthday. Because I'm awesome like that.**

**Thanks to the wonderful person who's beta-ing this, Dementia777. Read her stories. Yumichika x Ikkaku. Ikkaku x Hanataro. They're all very wonderful. :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**_Karakura Group – Tatsuki Arisawa – 10:46 AM, July 16_**

It took the group a while to get situated. Tatsuki had spent the time comforting Orihime, who had burst into tears as soon as the situation sunk in. Tatsuki didn't blame her; as much as she didn't want to admit it, she kind of felt like bursting into tears as well. But that feeling had passed. Now she was kneeling between Orihime and Mizuiro, waiting for something to happen.

Uryu was trying to take charge, and failing, by the look of it. "Now, the first thing we need is food-"

"Wait a minute, who put you in charge?" Ichigo leaped to his feet, glaring daggers at the bespectacled teen. Uryu sighed and loosened the collar of his shirt.

That was another weird thing about this place. Their 'uniforms' were oddly like school uniforms, which Tatsuki wasn't very happy about, considering she had to wear a skirt, and a shorter one at that. It was easier to move around in than a longer skirt would have been, but...still. It was a skirt. How hard would it be for one of those creeps her and Orihime were with to sneak a peek while she was kicking ass?

"It's obvious that the group needs an intelligent, level-headed person to lead them. Who else is there?" Uryu said slowly, as if talking to a young child.

Ichigo didn't take this well. "I could lead them better than you ever could!"

Uryu's glasses glinted dangerously. "Oh, you think that, do you?" he said quietly.

"Yeah, I do!"

"Idiot," Uryu snorted. Ichigo's eyes narrowed and opened his mouth to say something that was most likely idiotic.

Tatsuki stepped in. "Just shut up, both of you," she snapped. "We do need food, but first we need to pick a leader. We won't get anywhere with you two idiots arguing."

"I nominate Tatsuki to be leader!" Orihime said, waving her hand in the air. Mizuiro nodded slowly, glancing over at Ichigo, who chewed on his lower lip angrily.

"Why don't we each have a few responsibilities?" Mizuiro suggested. Tatsuki glanced at him. His hand was raised, like he was back in class. He was wearing that usual expression of apologetic innocence, miniscule smile on his face.

"That's actually a pretty good idea," Ichigo said, nodding. "Good thinking, Mizuiro."

Mizuiro smiled, tilting his side to the side and closing his eyes. Tatsuki shuddered slightly. It was just freaking unnerving when he did that.

The loudspeaker-type-thing crackled, and they all jumped, save for Chad. "Dividing up the duties!" Urahara said brightly. "Smart! Well, I just decided to pop in there. So... bye." he said awkwardly, and the crackle was heard once more. It was silent.

"What the hell just happened?" Tatsuki asked, breaking the silence. Nobody answered.

Something howled in the distance. Orihime glanced around at all of them, eyes even wider than normal. "Um, guys?" she said, voice high. "What was that?"

Ichigo tightened his grip on the sword, glancing around. Uryu drew an arrow from his quiver and notched it the bow. Tatsuki merely readied herself, narrowing her eyes.

The howl came again, nearer this time. "It's coming from the south," Mizuiro informed. Tatsuki glanced at him. "Compass app."

"You have an app that hears noise and tells you where it's coming from?" Ichigo asked, glancing at Mizuiro.

Mizuiro blushed. "No, it's just coming from that way," he waved his hand toward the left of him. "And that way's south."

Ichigo opened his mouth to speak more, but something crashed into the building they were next to. Tatsuki was knocked against the building on the other side of the alley they were in and fell to the ground, clutching her ribs. Damn it. She was hurt.

The thing roared again, and when the dust cleared, Tatsuki could see it clearly. Immediately, she wished she couldn't. The thing - no, it was a monster - was huge, almost twice the size of the building it had just destroyed. It had a mask over it's face, and a spider-like body.

She heard Ichigo yell and swing the sword in a downward arc, the blade digging into the side of the mask a few inches. He was shoved backwards, landing next to where Orihime cowered on the ground. A shower of arrows landed on the soft points of the monster next, but that only seemed to irritate it.

I've got to help! Tatsuki thought, jumping to her feet. It was just a bruised rib. She could deal with it.

The monster was facing Chad now, who send punch after punch. It didn't seem to phase the monster much, but at least Chad was holding his ground. Tatsuki took a running leap at it, bringing her foot down on it's head. Ichigo followed her with another sword buried three inches into the bone.

"Go for the neck, idiot!" Uryu shouted. "I'm on my last arrow!" Tatsuki glanced at the multiple arrows scattered across the monster's flesh. As much as Uryu annoyed her, he was good with a bow.

With a few more punches from Chad and a stab to the neck, the monster was down.

"Finally!" Tatsuki said, limping over to Orihime. The orange-haired girl had brought out her first aid kit she'd found at the bottom of her backpack. She was pressing a bandage to Uryu's hand at the moment.

"Tatsuki, what's wrong?" Orihime asked, finishing wrapping the bandage quickly.

"Think I bruised my heel," Tatsuki said, wincing as she put pressure down on it.

_**Rukongai Group - Nemu Kurotsuchi - 12:02 PM, July 16**_

It was quiet. Hanataro Yamada and Rin Tsubokura were sitting a bit farther away, admiring their blades. Rukia Kuchiki was sitting beside her, speaking to the Kotetsu sisters.

"Nemu, what do you think we should do?" Rukia asked, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Shelter. After we find a place to set up camp, we need to find food," Nemu said immediately, sitting up straight. Her braid dangled over one shoulder, so she stopped to pull it behind her back. Luckily, she had forgotten to take her ponytail holder off of her wrist before she went to bed.

Otherwise she would have had to cut her hair off. She probably should do that, to keep it out of the way. Deciding that that was the best plan of action, Nemu raised her blade to the top of her braid and sliced the blade through the long, dark strands, turning to watch the braid, still intact, hit the floor.

"Nemu!" Isane said, shocked. Nemu looked at her, a bit confused as to why she was shocked. "Your hair!"

"It would only get in the way. It is only hair. It will grow back," Nemu replied, taking the hair-tie off of the end and handing it to Rin, whose hair was obscuring his vision. She recollected him putting it up during school, so he must have some use for it. He smiled at her and put it up, giving him a slightly unicorn-like look.

She got to her feet, a bit unnerved to have strands of hair tickling her face instead of swinging behind her. "We should get going and find our shelter."

The crackling that had been heard twice before was heard once more. "The object of the game is to get to the center between all four territories. If you're thinking shelter just for the night, then that's fine. But... food should probably be a priority," Yoruichi Shihoin's voice said, interrupting their conversation.

"So if we get to the center, we win?" Kiyone asked, tipping her head to the side. Her large brown eyes gleamed.

Yoruichi giggled. "Not quite. But head for the center first. That should be your first priority."

"My kids already faced a hollow attack, and you're telling yours what to do? Unfair!" Kisuke Urahara complained. There was a sound of a smack.

"Shut up, Kisuke. Just because you didn't have the foresight to tell yours what to do doesn't mean I can't!"

"Please just be quiet. They can hear every word we are saying, you know. I think it would be for the best if I explained what they have to do," Sosuke Aizen said. "I'm sorry I didn't think to do this earlier. The purpose of the game is to defeat the other three teams and make it to the center. The last four team members will become the new sponsors."

_**Seireitei Group - Kaien Shiba - 2:30 PM, July 16**_

"Holy shit, what is that thing?"

Kaien sat up, rubbing his head. Stupid Hisagi, waking him up like that. He was supposed to be keeping watch, not waking Kaien up. Damn it.

Wait a minute, he was supposed to be keeping watch. If he was yelling about some random thing, then something must have popped up. Kaien jumped to his feet, instantly alert. He grabbed the trident, sprinting out of their temporary shelter to where Shuhei was holding off a gigantic... thing. The chain of Shuhei's weapon was wrapped around the neck of the giant monster, and it looked as if he was holding it off as best as he could, smacking one of the blades against it's skull over and over again.

Kaien entered the fight with a yell, bringing his trident up to it's chin. The thing dodged just in time, swiping a paw into Kaien's chest. He went flying, crashing through the doorway of their shelter. Izuru sat up, eyes wide. He'd been lying on his back, just staring up at the ceiling last Kaien had seen him. Good thing he wasn't asleep like Rangiku. Yumichika should be back any minute now with food...

"Kira! Come with me!" Kaien gasped, pulling himself to his feet. "Shuhei's out there with some... thing.. anyway, you've got to help!"

Izuru nodded, picking up his blade quickly. Kaien rolled his eyes when he saw the weapon. What a useless thing. It didn't even have a blade on the outside edge!

But as long as Izuru could handle it, that was fine. Kaien sprinted back toward the monster and Shuhei. Shuhei was trapped now, completely trapped. He was just barely managing to fight the thing off.

In fact, it looked like he was going to die soon if they didn't save him quickly. Kaien let out a yell and ran at the monster, jumping at it. His trident barely scratched the monster's skull. "Damn it!" he yelled. "Izuru! Don't go for the skull! It's strong!"

"It's bone," Izuru said, hooking his sword around one of the legs. With a quick tug, there was a large gash in the limb. The inside of that weapon must have been wickedly sharp.

Shuhei managed to escape. He panted, uniform barely hanging on his shoulders. As soon as Rangiku appeared in the doorway of their shelter, however, he straightened up and swung one of the pinwheel things above his head. His weapon dug behind the monster's skull and it let out a scream of fury before falling to the ground, dead. Rangiku applauded halfheartedly.

That incredibly annoying crackle was heard again. Sounds like they were going to get a talk from their... what had that one guy called it... sponsor. Yeah, that was it. "You have defeated your first hollow," their sponsor's voice was stiff, like before. Too bad. It sounded as if it might have been a pretty voice, if it would just loosen up a little. "There will be many more before you get to the center. Try to stay prepared."

And with that, the crackle was heard once more and it was silent. At least, until Yumichika arrived, arms full of food. "What happened?" he exclaimed, eyes widening.

_**Hueco Mundo Group - Tesla Lindocruz - 7:26 AM, July 17**_

Tesla blinked open his eyes, yawning. Nnoitra was a few feet away, snoring an incredibly deep snore, considering his voice wasn't extremely deep. But Telsa was already aware of the tone of Nnoitra's snore, however creepy that sounded. He'd stayed overnight at Nnoitra's house before.

They would stay up for hours, watching movies and whatnot. Of course, he was mostly fetching popcorn and beer for Nnoitra and Grimmjow while they watched the movies, but eventually they both fell asleep. At that point Tesla usually curled up on the floor and fell into a light sleep, generally waking up ages before either of them.

And he was first awake again, it seemed. Even Ulquiorra who, on the days he spent at Nnoitra's house, generally woke up a good ten minutes or so before Tesla, was still fast asleep.

Tesla pushed himself onto his elbows. It was always night here. That was a little irritating, but, hey, at least they wouldn't get sunburned, right? Of course, it was a little cold, but that was always okay. Better than being baked alive.

He looked at his other 'teammates.' Both Ulquiorra and Ggio were far apart from anyone else, and Tesla noticed that Luppi was curled on Grimmjow's chest. That was going to be interesting when Grimmjow woke up.

Ulquiorra was up next, then Ggio. They all sat there, waiting for Grimmjow to wake up. "This is going to be interesting," Ggio said quietly, grinning.

After what seemed like hours but was probably only five minutes or so, Grimmjow shifted in his sleep. He buried his face in Luppi's hair, getting a snicker from Ggio.

The snicker was probably what woke Grimmjow up. His eyes snapped open and he fully assessed the situation. He shoved Luppi off of his lap. "Fuck! What are you doing?" he yelled, jumping to his feet.

Luppi yawned, stretching. "What's wrong, Grimmy? You didn't mind the cuddling back in eighth grade," he slurred, swaying on his feet. He was pretty exhausted, Tesla noticed.

"In eighth grade I thought you were a chick!" Grimmjow said wildly, throwing his arms up in the air. "Damn it, I knew I should've dated your sister!"

"Cirucci didn't even like you," Luppi snorted. "She likes the pink-haired dude... Szayel Aporro Granz?"

Ulquiorra nodded mutely. "I didn't know you didn't know Luppi wasn't a girl," he said, drawing shapes in the sand.

"I just thought you were gay, then got over it," Ggio said, shrugging.

"You were a sixth grader! You didn't even know me!" Grimmjow said, turning to tower over Ggio, who shrugged.

"Everyone knew about you and your boyfriend," Ggio stated, stretching. Grimmjow growled and kicked sand at him.

"Did you all know he was a guy?" Grimmjow asked.

"He was in my gym class. Of course I knew he was a guy," Tesla inserted. Grimmjow narrowed his eyes and sat back down, crossing his arms angrily.

Just then, Nnoitra woke up. He took in the angry face of Grimmjow. "Damn it! I missed something!"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Oh lord, I'm sorry that I've been gone forever. Blame two things - a random obsession with Romeo and Juliet, and NaNoWriMo.<strong>

**For those of you who don't know what that is, it's basically where you write a 50,000 word novel in a month, November. I managed to finish mine early, with it ending up at 54,300 words. I don't think it's too bad, considering I started two days late, it's my first year, and I'm fourteen. xP Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the finished product.**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Karakura Group - Mizuiro Kojima - 8:34 AM, July 17**_

He was hungry. The rest of them were, too, especially Orihime. She complained about her hunger almost all of the time, especially after fixing up everyone's injuries from the attack yesterday.

Mizuiro felt bad about not being able to do anything, but he didn't have Tatsuki or Chad's fighting ability, or Uryu's skill with a bow, or even Ichigo's raw power.

He couldn't even heal people. Even Orihime contributed more to the group than he did.

They were sitting in silence. Tatsuki was comforting Orihime, but other than that, they all kept their distance from each other. "I'm hungry," Orihime whimpered.

"We're all hungry," Ichigo snapped, only to apologize right after. "Sorry, Orihime."

Orihime nodded, looking down at the ground. Uryu sighed, crossing his arms. "We need to find food. There's a supermarket over there, maybe there will be food."

"Okay then, come on Ishida. Let's go," Tatsuki said, jumping up. Uryu blinked.

"Oh, um, I didn't mean that I was going to go scavenge for food..." he trailed off, adjusting his glasses.

Tatsuki snorted. "Figures. Anyone wanna help me?"

He didn't do anything else for the group, so he might as well volunteer. "I'll help you," Mizuiro offered, getting to his feet. She looked at him in that calculating way of hers. As always, it gave him the slightest amount of butterflies.

"Right. Thanks, Kojima. Watch my back," Tatsuki said, beginning to walk down the street. Mizuiro followed, glancing back once to look at the other group members.

If they never worked together, they would never win this thing. They all knew each other, so why couldn't they just work together? It was just slightly infuriating.

Tatsuki creaked open the door to the supermarket slowly. She glanced around, then took a tentative step forward. Nothing happened.

"It's stocked," Mizuiro observed, peeking over Tatsuki's shoulder. She nodded, stepping fully into the store.

"Keep the door open," she instructed. "We don't know what's in here."

Mizuiro nodded. After a few minutes of careful stepping they split up, filling their arms with food. After Tatsuki found the carts, they began to fill those, too.

And then Mizuiro smelled smoke. "Tatsuki!" he called, voice wavering. "I think we should-"

He stopped speaking as soon as the area in front of the door burst into flames. The door slammed and he heard the distinctive click of a lock locking.

"Mizuiro!" he heard her call as the room filled up with smoke. "Where are you?"

"Over by the... um... canned goods!" he said.

"I don't know where those are!"

"By the door!"

"Okay!"

After a few minutes, she appeared next to him, coughing. Mizuiro wracked his brain for something, anything he'd learned about fires in any class he'd ever taken. "The floor!" he shouted, dropping to his knees. He grabbed Tatsuki's hand and pulled her down with him. "There's less smoke, come on, we've got to make it to... to a window or something!"

He saw her nod, and they began to crawl across the floor. They were stopping for coughing breaks far too often, Mizuiro realized. The fire had spread so quickly, leaping across shelves and whatnot. It was miracle they hadn't run into any yet.

Something crashed above them, and he pulled her closer to the floor. "Cover your head!"

"I am, dumbass!"

They stayed there for a while, shaking. Mizuiro felt an ember fall onto his neck, and he let it burn out, wincing at the sudden pain. "Okay," he croaked. They began to move forward again.

His hand pushed into a spot of flame. He gulped, pulling his hand away. He squinted at his hand. His middle fingernail was melted into his skin. Ouch. That hurt. Quite a bit, actually.

"Mi-Mizuiro," Tatsuki coughed, pulling herself up. "A window!"

She kicked the glass out of the window, then collapsed in a fit of coughing. Mizuiro stood up, squinting through the smoke. The rest of the group was out there, staring up a the building. Orihime was throwing up in some bushes.

I've got to get her out of here, Mizuiro thought. He looked back. The fire was moving closer. No time to get rid of the excess shards. It might kill her, but death by cuts was better than death by fire. He lifted her up, struggling under the weight. He looked away as she shoved her through the glass, wincing as blood squirted onto his hands. She doesn't fit! he realized with an ever-growing horror as he pushed on her harder, swallowing as she let out a pained cry. He looked back again. The flames were so near now. They were too near. They were both going to die, and there was nothing he could do about it. He pulled Tatsuki back for a second. "This is really cheesy, and you're probably already dead, but..." he trailed off as she saw her eyelids flutter. "And you're going to die anyway but I really kind of like you and I have no idea why." he kissed her, then pushed her back out the window, curling up beside her feet.

_**Karakura Group - Ichigo Kurosaki - 8:45 AM, July 17**_

Ichigo winced as he heard Mizuiro's anguished screams from the burning building. He almost joined Orihime when the top half of Tatsuki's body fell out of the window, blood-stained and charred. "This settles it," he said, swallowing the vomit that was sure to come up soon. "We've got to work together."

"Tatsuki!" Orihime screeched, running towards the top half of her best friend. "Oh Tatsuki, Tatsuki!"

She was crying now. He walked up to join her, putting his arm around her and looking down at their fallen friend. A slow tear trickled down his cheek.

_**Rukongai Group - Rin Tsubokura - 9:30 AM, July 17**_

"Haha, you're behind!"

Their sponsor was taunting the sponsor of the... of the... Karakura group. Yeah, Kisuke Urahara. Something about his group having two tributes less than everyone else? How could he have two tributes less, unless... unless they had died somehow.

He shuddered at the thought. As it had been explained , they were going to have to defeat the other teams. Honestly, Rin didn't think that they could do it. The other teams were probably way stronger than them.

_**Seireitei Group - Renji Abarai - 10:01 AM, July 17**_

"So, we've got to have a plan for this," Kaien said. The rest of the group nodded, Renji included. Kaien was their self-appointed leader. Nobody really minded, though Renji thought he might be able to do a little better of a job than Kaien was doing.

But that was beside the point. Kaien was their all-mighty leader and he, Renji Abarai was simply a lowly warrior.

That didn't mean he couldn't make suggestions, however. "We need to head toward the middle," he said. Yumichika rolled his eyes.

"We've already established that," he said, shifting his backpack from one shoulder to the other.

"I think there's a desert that way," Rangiku said, waving her hand in a random direction. "Maybe that's the way to the middle?"

"When did you find this?" Kaien asked, blinking. Shuhei smirked.

"We took a walk last night," he said. "There's something weird that way, even if it isn't a desert."

Kaien nodded. "Okay then. We'll head that way," he said, nodding. Renji grinned and stretched.

"Let's get this party started," he said.

_**Hueco Mundo Group - Ulquiorra Cifer - 11:11 AM, July 17**_

"What are we supposed to be doing?" Nnoitra complained. "We don't have any freaking food out here."

"Be patient," Ulquiorra said quietly, ignoring the feel of hunger in his stomach. They were beginning to get hungry, and there was no sight of anything but sand. Unless the sand was edible, he could see them dying of hunger before the got to the middle.

Because Ulquiorra Cifer had no intention of losing. He was going to win this thing if it killed everyone else.

The crackle was heard again. Nnoitra growled and looked up at the sky. "Hey, if you're gonna talk anyway, how about some food? I'm fucking starving down here!"

Their sponsor laughed. "I'm sorry Mr. Jiruga. That is something you shall have to find on your own. What I have to tell you is much more interesting than your lack of food."

"What is it?" Grimmjow shouted.

"No need to shout Mr. Jaegerjaquez. Anyway, what I need to tell you is about the Karakura Group. Two of their number has been killed in a fire."

There was silence. That meant that they would have an easier time winning, Ulquiorra realized. But it didn't matter. He certainly wasn't going to die. That was just a ridiculous thought.

"Tesla. Can you see anything?" Nnoitra snapped. The blonde shook his head, keeping his eyes on the ground. Hm. He was shy once more. Of course, being treated like a slave probably wasn't good for one's self-esteem, but he should learn to get over it.

Ulquiorra himself never treated the sophomore like a slave, but Nnoitra did frequently, and Grimmjow also took part a few times. It seemed a bit inhumane, but what did Ulquiorra know about friends? Maybe that's how everyone acted.

"Hey! I see someone!" Ggio shouted. Nnoitra grinned.

"Let the fun and games begin," their sponsor said quietly. The speaker went out with a crackle.

**_Death Count:_ **02

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><p><strong>Author's Note: Sorry this took so long. But, I am posting two chapters as of now, so that's good, right? :D<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

_**Seireitei Group - Shuuhei Hisagi - 11:14 AM, July 17**_

"Is that a giant spoon?" Rangiku asked, squinting. Shuuhei glanced at her, weird feelings erupting in his stomach. So what if she was hallucinating and seeing giant spoons? Considering their situation, that was probably perfectly normal.

Wait a minute, that was a giant spoon. Awk-ward. "Have you ever seen a white spoon?" Kaien asked, tilting his head to the side. "Hang on, if there's a spoon, do you think there will be cereal or something, too?"

"That's someone's hood," Yumichika pointed out. "There's a head in it. What a horrible choice of clothing."

"Oh. That's awkward," Shuuhei said.

_**Hueco Mundo Group - Nnoitra Jiruga - 11:16 AM, July 17**_

"They're coming clo-ser!" Luppi said, grinning. Nnoitra would smack him for being such a freak, but he was pretty excited of the prospect of a battle.

Or something. What the fuck was going on, anyway?

_**Seireitei Group - Shuuhei Hisagi - 11:18 AM, July 17**_

"We should probably draw our weapons," Renji said, as if they all hadn't been carrying them all the entire time, with the exception of Rangiku.

Shuuhei carried hers. Even though she had a scabbard for it. The things one did for love. But maybe these people were friendly! With food! Yumichika hadn't been very efficient with his food-finding. It had only lasted them the rest of that day.

Shuuhei still had a Reese's stashed in his uniform, but nobody had to know that. It was for emergencies.

Once they got closer, they realized that Spoony and company had drawn their weaponry as well. Looks like there was going to be a fight. Why, though? Why would they fight when they could... work together or something... to find a way out... or something.

Yeah, fighting was probably the best idea.

"Get ready for your freaking death!" Spoony crowed.

_**Hueco Mundo Group - Tesla Lindocruz - 11:26 AM, July 17**_

Whoa. This fight was pretty intense, you know, besides the fact that he wasn't doing anything. Not that he minded or anything, he quite liked watching Nnoitra fight.

Actually, it was pretty nerve-wracking, but also interesting. He didn't want Nnoitra to get hurt, but it was fun watching him attack the blonde with emo hair.

Oh lord, the red pineapple was going to hurt Nnoitra. He had seen the whip-like properties of the weapon when the fight had begun.

It was actually a pretty good entrance. But that wasn't important. He needed to save Nnoitra.

The blades were spinning toward Nnoitra's back. Turn around, turn around, turn around please turn around...

He wasn't going to turn around. Well, scratch the connected mind theory.

Tesla gulped as the blades spun closer. He needed to save Nnoitra. He needed to. It didn't matter if he died, just so Nnoitra stayed safe.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion. It must be the adrenaline, Tesla thought as he sprinted to Nnoitra's aid, not thinking to raise his sword to block.

"Nnoi-"

_**Seireitei Group - Shuuhei Hisagi - 11:30 AM, July 17**_

Shuuhei looked away from his opponent for a second to see blood spurting everywhere. What had happened?

Renji's blade snapped back to the smaller form, dripping with blood. The redhead was pale.

Shuuhei glanced to Spoony. By his feet was the crumpled form of one of the Hueco Mundo members. "Retreat!" he yelled. "Seireitei Group, get the hell out of here!"

Seireitei Group - Izuru Kira - 11:31 AM, July 17

"Retreat! Seireitei Group, get the hell out of here!"

Izuru wriggled away from the spoon-man's weapon, running as fast as he could. Blood was running down his chest, dripping from a wound on his shoulder. Damn it.

His weapon was dropped somewhere back there, but that was okay. He just needed to get out of there as soon as he could.

_**Hueco Mundo Group - Nnoitra Jiruga - 11:33 AM, July 17**_

"You're not getting away!" Nnoitra yelled, laughing maniacally. "Die!"

He swung his sword in a wide arc, knocking the emo-thing to the ground. The kid let out a lame little cough. Nnoitra grinned and put the sharp point of one side of his weapon under the kid's jaw. One stab, and he was dead in a spurt of unnecessary blood spurtage.

_**Hueco Mundo Group - Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez - 11:36 AM, July 17**_

Grimmjow looked around with wide eyes. Nnoitra was still laughing his maniacal evil villain laughter. "Tesla! Get over here! We won!"

Grimmjow glanced at the blood-stained lump that was Tesla. Nnoitra was looking around, eyes wild.

"Tesla? Oh god... oh my fucking god..." Nnoitra said, dropping to his knees. He looked down at the boy. "Damn it. Damn it! Why did you leave me here, you pathetic... pathetic..."

"Are you going to cry?" Ulquiorra asked in his monotone voice. Grimmjow shuddered. The guy was creepy. But not as creepy as Luppi. Oh god, nobody was as creepy as Luppi.

"I'm sure as hell not going to cry!" Nnoitra said. He did kind of sound like he was going to cry. "The little fucker got to die. He got out. Shit, we should be happy for him."

With that, he turned around and began to walk away.

_**Seireitei Group - Shuuhei Hisagi - 12:01 PM, July 17**_

"Where's Izuru?" Kaien asked, looking around. Shuuhei gulped. Had he died? Oh lord, he'd died, hadn't he?

"I'm sure he's fine," Rangiku said, waving her hand dismissively. "More importantly, do we have any food? I'm starving!"

Shuuhei handed her his Reese's. "I think... I think he's dead," he said, looking down.

"We've got to go get him," Renji said. "I killed the blonde kid, I killed the blonde kid."

"Why do we have to go get him?" Yumichika asked. They all glared at him. "I mean, it's got to be all bloody and gross, and we'll probably die anyway. He can find us if he's alive, and if he's not, he's not."

The crackling was heard once more. "Izuru Kira was killed," Soi Fon said. "His body shall be returned anonymously to his family."

Rangiku choked on her Reese's. "Wha-"

"Yes. He's dead. You killed one of them, Abarai, so you should be happy. You did well."

The crackling was heard again, and they were plunged into the most awkward of silences Shuuhei had ever been in.

_**Karakura Group - Orihime Inoue - 1:30 PM, July 17**_

"Ichigo?" Orihime asked. He looked up.

"Yeah, Orihime?" Oh, it gave her butterflies when he said her name. He was just so handsome and funny and handsome and brave... he was just so amazing.

"Um... do you think... do you think this is all just a dream? Or maybe a trick? Like, a magic trick?" Orihime said, brightening. Yes, it had to just be a magic trick! Tatsuki wasn't dead, that was a... a stunt double or something that had fallen out of the building! The building had burned down, but there was a trapdoor that Tatsuki and Mizuiro had escaped through.

They were fine! They were all perfectly fine and they wouldn't die and everything would be all right and-

"No, Orihime. I think this is for real."

_**Rukongai Group - Rukia Kuchiki - 3:00 PM, July 17**_

Someone screamed. Rukia's head snapped up. That sounded like... like... what was his name? Oh yeah, Hanataro. "Isane! Kiyone!" Rukia yelled, jumping to her feet. "That was Hanataro!"

Rin ran back toward them, doubled over. "He's... Nemu and him... giant monster..." the boy (?) gasped.

Rukia nodded and ran toward the screams. What she saw wasn't pretty in the least.

Nemu was kneeling in the grass, hair shaken over her face. Hanataro was in the grip of some sort of giant monster, screaming. "I... I..." Rukia said, looking around frantically for something she could use to help him.

**Stop and think, Rukia**.

Kaien's voice was there, just like it always had been. Rukia took a deep breath. Okay. What did she have? A weapon. Her hand closed around the white hilt of her incredibly beautiful blade.

But she didn't know how to use it!

_Help me, Kaien!_

**Trust your instincts.**

_My instincts tell me to run!_

**Well, don't do that, but, you know. Do what feels right.**

_That's running!_

**Rukia...**

There it was, that disappointed voice. Kiyone and Isane were stunned; they weren't even moving as the monster brought Hanataro closer to it's mouth.

She'd show him. She'd show Kaien that she could be a good person, that she could trust her instincts enough to attack this thing. "For Kaien!" she shouted, running forward.

Both Hanataro and the monster looked startled. "Who's Kaien?" Isane asked, breaking the silence.

"Kaien Shiba, aged twenty-five. Died in a car accident caused by a large dog. Miyako Shiba, his wife, also died in that accident," Nemu said, lifting her head up. A large bruise was present on her left cheek.

Rukia concentrated, gripping the sword tightly. The head looked like bone, so attacking it wouldn't do much good...

**Think about it, Rukia.**

The leg that held Hanataro! Then he could get off free, and he'd be fine, and whatnot!

She swung with all her might, wincing as the blade connected with flesh and blood spurted everywhere.

**Unnecessary blood spurtage!**

Hanataro fell to the ground, still in cased in the hand. He struggled free, gasping. "Rukia- I... thank you," he said, suddenly blushing and looking at the ground.

Nemu jumped up, leaping on top of the skull and stabbing her katana onto it's neck. The monster flailed around a bit before dying.

_I hope you're proud, Kaien._

**I am, Rukia. I am proud.**

_**Hueco Mundo Group - Nnoitra Jiruga - 3:31 PM, July 17**_

Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it. How had Tesla - no, why had Tesla died and left him here? Why? Damn it. He cared about that little bastard. He actually did. He let himself think that he didn't, but he did.

Tesla... Tesla was his friend. As much as Nnoitra hated friends, he knew that if he had died, Tesla would be bawling his fucking eyes out. And Nnoitra wasn't crying. Because Nnoitra didn't cry.

He kicked the last bit of sand of Tesla, obscuring his face. "Damn it, Tesla," he whispered. "You're lucky."

And before anyone could see the tear slowly trickling down his face, he turned away. "I'm gonna go scout out some food. I'm fucking starving."

_**Death Count:**_04

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><p><strong>Author's Note: I... do really think that, under it all Nnoitra did care about Tesla. Just a little.<strong>

**But even if he didn't, this is fanfiction. x3**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Let's watch the death count continue to rise! :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Karakura Group - Uryu Ishida - July 18, 9:31 AM**

He was out of arrows. Great. Now, not only were they extremely low on food, but one of them was completely and utterly useless. If only he'd been like Chad, who could defend himself with just his fists. No, he had to be the archer, who ran out of arrows.

If there was food stocked up randomly, would there be arrows, too?

Uryu should poke around, see if he could find some next time he had some down time.

Of course, maybe they were leaving all of the arrows behind. He really should tell Ichigo - hold on a minute, when did Ichigo become leader? He didn't have to ask Ichigo if he had to do something. "I'm going to go find more arrows," he said bluntly, turning around to leave.

"Hey!" Ichigo yelled. Uryu looked back.

"What do you want?" Uryu said coldly.

"You can't just leave!" Uryu ignored him and continued to walk away. He heard the taller teenager sigh.

"Come on, let's follow him," Ichigo said. "Damn it."

Uryu hid a small smile. Perfect. He was leading them, just as he'd figured would happen in the end. He was the only intelligent one of the group, after all.

**Rukongai Group - Isane Kotetsu - July 18, 9:42 AM**

Rukia had appointed herself leader after the monster incident. Not that Isane minded, no, she was perfectly fine with it. So was everyone else on the team, from the looks of it.

She was just... nervous for Rukia. First of all, she was obviously under way too much pressure, with the weird 'For Kaien!' stuff. Secondly, she'd refused medical treatment - or even a checkup - after the monster incident, and now she was scouting ahead for them, refusing any help, when anything could happen. Isane couldn't even see her anymore. That worried her quite a bit.

"Something feels wrong. I think we should-" Nemu was interrupted by a quickly cut off scream that sounded eerily like-

"Rukia!" Hanataro yelled, breaking out into a run. Isane followed him, stopping short at the edge of a giant pit. She looked down, dreading what she was about to see.

Rukia's body was speared on a giant spike. "Oh no..." Isane breathed. Hanataro looked on the verge of tears. Either that or he was going to throw up, Isane wasn't sure which.

Kiyone ran up. "What? What's happen-" Upon seeing Rukia's body, she retched a few times, holding onto Hanataro for support. She probably would have been throwing up on Rukia's recently deceased body if they would have had anything to eat in the past day or so.

Nemu walked over silently. "She has died," the girl said in her usual emotionless tone, bowing her head. "We should retrieve the body."

Just as the dark-haired girl was about to jump into the pit - however durable Nemu was, even she couldn't survive a six foot fall into three foot spikes - the crackle was heard.

"No, don't jump in," Yoruichi said. "Rukia's body will be returned to her family. Just concentrate on going forward. It would be best... it would be best if you could just forget her and keep going."

Isane's mind spun. Forget Rukia? How could she ever do that? It wasn't like she'd had much interaction with Rukia during school, but that didn't mean that she could just up and forget the girl. Someone like Nemu could forget, maybe. Everyone else? No, that wasn't going to happen.

"Someone needs to take charge," Isane found herself saying. No! She shouldn't be saying this! In every novel she'd ever read, the person who said, 'someone needs to take charge' always ended up leading everyone and in turn getting everyone killed.

Unless this was like one of those novels where the underdogs managed to make it out, she could definitely seeing them all die. It hadn't seemed so drastic before Rukia had died, but now... but now the hard truth of it hit her. They were all going to die.

Kiyone and Hanataro realized it too, from the looks of it. Kiyone was clinging to Hanataro, sobbing wildly. Strangely, Hanataro wasn't completely freaking out. The young teenager was simply standing there, face pale, tears silently running down his face.

The crackle was heard again, signifying that their sponsor had nothing left to say to them. "We're on our own," Isane muttered. "Completely and utterly on our own."

"I nominate Isane Kotetsu to be our leader," Nemu said, raising one hand in the air hesitantly.

"What? No! I-" Isane broke off when she saw Kiyone looking at her, brown eyes shining. "Fine."

**Seireitei Group - Rangiku Matsumoto - July 18, 10:01 AM**

"We should hold a funeral."

Rangiku looked up. Shuhei looked unusually serious. What was up with him? Generally, her dreams were much less gruesome than this. Also, if Shuhei was in it, he was always joking and happy.

But mostly, it was all Gin. Ah, Gin. He might be a student teacher, he might be twenty-one and legally able to get her alchohol, but she did really like him.

"For Izuru?" Rangiku asked, smiling. Why had Izuru been in her dream, anyway? She didn't even really know him. "We don't even have his body!"

"We still..." Shuhei took a deep breath. "We still need to remember him. She said that his body would be taken back to his family, but that doesn't mean that we can't remember him, right?"

"Right," Kaien said, nodding. Now, Kaien was an attractive one. Head of the school's basketball team, tall, strong, with black hair and the prettiest green eyes. It was really too bad he had a steady girlfriend.

There was also a little weird tidbit of information about him. He had had an older brother, and after the man had died in a car crash, he'd taken the name of Kaien for himself. Weird, huh? They had been extremely alike, too.

"Are you coming or not?" Yumichika asked, brushing his hair back impatiently. "We're supposed to be collecting food so we don't starve to death."

"Oh, yeah!" Rangiku said, grinning brightly and jumping to her feet. Why couldn't she be with Shuhei? Yumichika was waaaay too pretty. Honestly, if Shuhei wasn't staring at her every three seconds, Rangiku would think that he was interested in Yumichika, and she did not want that. No, they were Rangiku's guys.

**Hueco Mundo Group - Ggio Vega - July 18, 10:31 AM**

"Dude, I never would've seen that coming," Ggio hissed to Ulquiorra, who just ignored him. "Nnoitra was crying, did you see?"

There was silence. Ggio sighed. Honestly, what was up with these people? Grimmjow and Nnoitra would probably kill him if he so much as said 'hi' to them, and talking to Luppi was like giving a creeper on the internet your address - you'd probably wake up in a strange bed the next morning.

If Luppi was a girl, maybe, but with the whole 'gay guy crossdresser' thing Luppi had going on...

So, that left Ulquiorra. If Tesla hadn't died, then Ggio would've had him to talk to, but as it was, Tesla was dead.

And Nnoitra Jiruga had cried! Oh shit, this was freaking awesome news. And funny, too. When he got out of here, he was so spreading that around the school.

Unless, of course, Nnoitra knew that he'd seen the tear, then Ggio would calmly forget that the entire scene had ever happened. Which means that he would have to forget that now, because the giant spoon was glaring at him in a way that was very threatening.

"I'm gonna go... um... talk to Luppi," Ggio said, backing up until he was standing beside the transgender freak. "Hey."

Luppi nodded, looking at Grimmjow with his freakish purple eyes. "Hi. So, does Grimmjow-"

"Okay, I'm gone."

_**Death Count: **_05

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><p><strong>Author's Note: Ehm... cleaned up a plot hole there... I really should have realized that Kaien couldn't be dead, he was a contestant... but Rukia's dead now, so we won't have to worry about that anymore. :D<strong>

**Please tell me if there are any more plot holes. x3 Please.**

**These are getting increasingly shorter, aren't they? Well, I am kind of behind on schedule... why do I save all of my chapters of the week for Saturday at nine o'clock? An hour to write seven chapters of at least one thousand words each is generally not a good idea. :P**


	6. Chapter 6

**Karakura Group - Yasutora Sado - 4:47 PM, July 18**

"Another supermarket," Ichigo remarked. No-one said anything. Chad glanced around at his companions. It had only been a day since Tatsuki and Mizurio had died, and the fear of going into another building was evident on all of his comrades' faces.

"I'll go in," Chad said.

"Oh Chad no!" Orihime gasped, clapping her hands together. Chad ignored her and walked through the door.

It did frighten him a little, to be going into a building when the last one had evidently been designed to kill. They would probably have to check the food to make sure it wasn't poisoned.

The trip into the supermarket was uneventful. He filled a few carts with canned and processed food and pushed it back out to the others. Orihime, despite her initial hesitation, squealed and filled her arms with candy and canned fruit. "I'm going to go make us some supper!" she decided, skipping away from the group.

Ichigo looked at him and shrugged. "There was nothing in there?" the orange-haired teen asked.

Chad shook his head slowly.

Uryu walked over to look at what Orihime was making. "Orihime, I really don't think that will taste good together..." he warned, looking like he wanted to pull everything away from her.

"Nonsense!" Orihime said, waving him away. "It will taste wonderful!"

It certainly looks less than wonderful, Chad thought when Orihime brought over their dinner. It was some sort of fruit - pears, maybe - covered in this... multicolored slime. Ichigo made a face and poked it with a plastic fork Orihime had joyfully produced.

"Are you sure it's safe to eat this?" he asked, eyes widening as the entire dish quivered. "Should it do that?"

"It'll be great!" Orihime said, taking a giant forkful of the concoction and shoving it into her mouth. It looked like she enjoyed it.

Uryu didn't even try it, instead deciding to grab a can of cold soup. Ichigo looked at Chad again. "Should we?" he asked, fork inching toward Orihime's recipe.

"Alright," Chad said, taking a small bite.

It was the worst thing he had ever tasted in the world. Even worse than the time the cooking class had made cakes and he was forced to judge them. He sat back. "I'm not hungry anymore," he said. Orihime shrugged.

"More for me then!"

Ichigo looked as if he were about to be sick. "Y-yeah, you can have it all," he forced out, swallowing.

Uryu rolled his eyes and continued eating his food. "Haha," he said quietly.

Chad suspected that if Ichigo had been feeling better, Uryu would have been the next one to die.

Orihime finished her meal and smiled. "I wish we hadn't run out of pears! I could have made this for breakfast, too!"

"About that... um, I don't think we need a cook... I think we can just make our own food, okay?" Ichigo said, managing a smile. Orihime frowned.

"Okay. I guess," she sighed.

**Rukongai Group - Kiyone Kotetsu - 8:35 PM, July 18**

Kiyone was pretty sure they shouldn't still be walking after dark, but Isane was their leader, and Nemu was still looking around for a place to stay, so she could afford to bump into stuff.

"I believe I've found somewhere."

"Um, great!" Isane said. She was still trying to be upbeat, even though they were now one member short.

Kiyone still couldn't believe that Rukia was dead. Like... actually and legitimately dead... impaled on giant spikes dead...

Kiyone shook her thoughts free of Rukia's body impaled on giant spikes. It wasn't a very pleasant memory.

Rukongai Group - Isane Kotetsu - 6:23 AM, July 19

Isane was awakened by a scream. She wasn't sure if it was Hanataro's or Kiyone's, but either option was bad. She sat up and grabbed her reluctantly received sword, almost impaling her finger on one of the weird little spikes. Nemu was already up, drawing her own katana.

Outside of their little hut was a huge group of monsters, like the one she-who-must-not-be-named had killed.

It had been Kiyone screaming, but she wasn't the one in danger. Hanataro was clutched in the fist of the largest monster. He looked unconscious.

Rin ran awkwardly at the largest monster, swinging the sword wildly. "Don't die!" he yelled, managing to hit the monster's leg. This would have been good, except for the fact that his katana got stuck. He pulled as hard as he could.

Another monster was coming up behind Rin. Isane stood there, frozen, as the monster stepped on him.

Kiyone gave out a squeak of horror when the monster lifted it's foot. Rin's head had been broken open, and blood was everywhere.

Something, Isane didn't know what, made the monsters leave. All four of them left, Hanataro dropping to the ground and landing with a thud.

Isane swallowed and ran to Hanataro, keeping her eyes away from Rin. "Hanataro! Are you alright?" she asked, touching his shoulder. He responded by coughing up blood.

Isane's eyes widened. This was not good. They couldn't operate on him or annything, and she was pretty sure there was something wrong with him.

Yeah, like the coughing up of blood wasn't an indicator.

He coughed again, gasping for air. Kiyone left her position by the door and ran over. "Is he going to be okay?" she asked, eyes wide. "Is he going to..."

Isane nodded, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. "He is." Her voice was rough.

"Rin is dead," Nemu informed them.

"We knew that," Kiyone said, pulling her knees to her chest. "And now Hana's going to die, too."

"Are we just going to leave him here, or are we going to watch him die?" Nemu asked as Hanataro began to cough once more. They sat for a while, watching him convulse and cough.

"Should we..." Kiyone trailed off, not wanting to be the one to mention that they should kill him.

"I wouldn't be able to do it," Isane said, staring at the young teen. She wanted to prolong this moment as long as possible so she wouldn't have to deal with Rin. Could they just ignore him and leave him there?

"I could," Nemu offered.

They were all silent. Hanataro took one final, gasping breath and his body visibly relaxed.

Isane felt for a pulse. There wasn't one. The tears that had been pricking her eyes slowly trickled down her face. "He's dead. We've lost another one."

**Seireitei Group - Kaien Shiba - 8:51 AM, July 19**

"I'm bored," Rangiku remarked for the third time that morning. After their expedition for food yesterday, they'd all eating something and fallen asleep. At the moment, Yumichika was spreading peanut butter on pieces of bread and passing two to each group member along with a bottle of water.

"At least you're not dead," Kaien replied, stretching. She sighed.

"Yeah, but we're not doing anything!"

"Once again - at least we're not dying," Kaien repeated himself, taking his breakfast from Yumichika.

"Hey, why don't I have one yet?" Rangiku complained. Yumichika ignored her, slowly spreading peanut butter on another piece and taking an eerily dainty bite. "Hey!"

Yumichika swallowed. "Make it yourself."

"But you made them some!"

"They weren't being annoying. It's quite ugly to demand food like that."

Rangiku pouted, crossing her arms over her rather large chest. "Fine then. I'll just starve to death. I won't have a heroic death like Izuru. I'll die of starvation."

Shuhei quietly took the bread and peanut butter from Yumichika and made a sandwich for Rangiku.

"Thank you Shuhei! See, there's a man that knows how to treat a lady," Rangiku said, mouth full of peanut butter. Shuhei had put a little to much on.

"Some lady," Yumichika scoffed, brushing his hair back with one hand.

"Whatever, transgender freak!" Rangiku retorted. Yumichika looked insulted.

"I am not a transgender freak!" he said. "I'm just a man who doesn't like looking like something that just got hit by a car. No offense to present company."

Kaien blinked. Did he look like he had just been hit by a car? If he did, that was probably a little bad. Darn it. He'd always thought he was pretty attractive, as far as attractive went.

Rangiku was silent. Yumichika looked triumphant. "You just feel threatened by my beauty."

"That's so not true!"

"It is."

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

**Hueco Mundo Group - Luppi Antenor - 11:11 AM, July 19**

"What's that?" Ggio asked. Luppi looked away from Grimmjow from a moment - he was damn cute when he was freaked out - to rest his on a gigantic castle-like thing. Wow... Why hadn't they seen it before?

Grimmjow grinned that slightly psychotic grin of his. "I bet there's food in there," he said.

"There better be food; it's a fucking castle! There needs to be food!" Nnoitra said, grinning as well.

"Maybe we're supposed to eat the sand," Ulquiorra mused, letting a handful slip through his fingers. He tentatively licked the few grains left. "No. No, we're not supposed to eat the sand."

After a few more minutes of walking, Nnoitra emitted a growl-like sound. "Fuck it. I'm running."

Grimmjow took off after him, urging Ggio to start to run and Ulquiorra into a slightly faster walking pace. Luppi followed, catching up to Ggio quickly.

Thank god he ran the 800 in track.

After a long time of running - how gigantic was this palace, anyway? - the four of them stopped in front of a pair of gigantic doors. Luppi took a deep breath. That was intense. Probably more intense than the battle.

"Congratulations, you have found the castle," their sponsor said. Luppi jumped; he hadn't heard the crackle that time. Maybe it had happened when they were immersed in their running? "I was considering blowing it up after you buried Tesla, but having my workers dig through the sand was all right, I suppose."

The crackle was heard, and all was silent. "How are we supposed to open this fucking thing?" Nnoitra asked.

Him and Grimmjow then proceeded to try and kick down the door. It didn't work.

Ulquiorra finally appeared. He stood on his tiptoes, pressing a button.

The door opened.

**Death Count:** 07

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><p><strong>Author's Note: I really shouldn't procrastinate. :P<strong>

**But I did enjoy writing this chapter. And I don't really have anything to type here, so I really don't know why I'm still rambling on.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Karakura Group - Ichigo Kurosaki - 12:13 PM, July 19**

"We should start heading for the middle," Uryu said, adjusting his glasses.

"Why? We're doing fine here," Ichigo said. "We've got food, four of us, and from the sound of it, everyone else is dying. We can handle it if more of those monsters come back, and I don't know about you guys, but I don't feel like dying."

"Idiot," Uryu scoffed. "Didn't you hear our sponsor? If we want to win, we have to get to the middle."

"I'm sure we can just stay here," Ichigo said, rolling his eyes. The crackle was heard.

"Actually, didn't we win without going to the middle?" Kisuke Urahara asked.

"Kisuke, you just leaned on the broadcast button," Yoruchi Shihoin said drily. The ending crackle was heard, and it was silent again. Ichigo smirked.

"Haha. I win," he said. "I'm hungry. Throw me a poptart Orihime."

"Are you sure you don't want me to-"

"We're sure," Ichigo and Chad said in unison. Orihime frowned, but threw Ichigo his poptart.

"So we don't have to go to the middle," Uryu said, sounding a bit disappointed. "Well, I guess we could stay here..."

The crackle was heard again. "Your enemies aren't going to kill themselves, Mr. Ishida. As your sponsor, I say, forward!"

"You shut up! It's not like you know what we're dealing with," Ichigo said, narrowing his eyes. This guy irritated him.

Their sponsor chuckled. "Didn't you just hear us arguing about if you had to get to the middle or not? Us four sponsors, we were in the same position you were ten years ago. Except one of us went out and killed the other teams. Thank you, Sosuke. Only problem was-" There was a crackle, and it was silent.

"That was odd," Chad said quietly. Everyone agreed.

**Rukongai Group - Nemu Kurotsuchi - 1:18 PM, July 19**

"I'm hungry," Kiyone muttered. "Isn't there any food out here?"

Nemu's eyes swept over the small village-like place they had just entered. "We could try the houses. However, they may be traps. We should proceed with caution."

Isane nodded, biting her lower lip. "We don't... we don't want to lose any more members. We're already out of the running. Let's just try to survive."

They were 'out of the running', as Isane had put it. In the rules stated at the beginning of the tournament, it had been mentioned four people must be in a team to win. It was in their best interests to stay out of the other team's ways and try to survive, however difficult that may be.

"I will check the houses. I will alert you if it happens to be a trap," Nemu said quietly. Both Kotetsu sisters looked at her, panic evident on Isane's face, hope on Kiyone's.

"Nemu... you can't do that. What if we lose you, too?" Isane asked, but it seemed that she wanted Nemu to find food as well. Kiyone said nothing.

"I need to do this," Nemu said, dipping her head to Isane and walking quickly over to the nearest house. She peered inside cautiously. There didn't seem to be anyone around. However, there were a few cabinets that she supposed could have food in them.

Her first step into the house was light, and she leaned back on her left foot. Nothing stirred.

Nemu was almost positive that there would be no traps in this small house, but it didn't hurt to be careful. She slowly stepped fully into the house, staying on the outside perimeter until she reached the cabinets near the back wall.

She stood directly in front of the cabinets, opening the door with a small tug. Nothing happened.

There was food in there, albeit a small amount. She would be able to carry it all in one trip. There was no water, but they'd been drinking form the streams and no damage had been done so far.

When she brought out the food, both Isane and Kiyone looked incredibly happy. "We have real food!" Kiyone said, smiling. "No more of your berries, Isane."

Isane flushed. "Shut up, Kiyone," she muttered, taking the box of crackers and opening it quickly. "Should we have a picnic?"

Nemu nodded and sat down on the dirt, crossing her legs. "We should not eat very much. Our stomachs are not used to that much food."

**Seireitei Group - Shuhei Hisagi - 1:37 PM, July 19**

Rangiku was bored again. Shuhei had figured out that she saw their entire ordeal as a dream she was having, and she was bored with it.

How did he know this?

She'd been muttering, 'Come on, onto the next dream already...' last night while they ate.

Shuhei wished this was a dream. From Izuru's demise to their ever-decreasing pile of food, it seemed like nothing was going right. Frankly, it sucked. And the others weren't any help either, with Yumichika antagonizing Rangiku every other minute. Renji and Kaien were basically okay, but they still did nothing important. He was the one that kept Rangiku under control, and kept her from realizing that this wasn't actually a dream.

Shuhei didn't want to know what would happen if she figured out it wasn't a dream. He had a feeling it wouldn't turn out very well.

**Hueco Mundo Group - Luppi Antenor - 4:22 PM, July 19**

Nnoitra stretched. "Food..." he sighed happily. Luppi looked back at Grimmjow. Still eating. Nnoitra interrupted his thoughts. "I feel like going on a killing spree. Who's with me?"

"Jus' wait a minute," Grimmjow said, shrugging. "Okay, I'm ready now. What are we going to do, find some other people?"

Nnoitra nodded, grin widening. "We're going to find some other team and beat the shit out of them. And then kill them."

Luppi shrugged. If Grimmjow was up for it, so was he. Ulquiorra looked bored, as usual, and Ggio looked a bit excited.

It really was a bit lonely without Tesla. Poor Tesla had died. Oh well. Better Tesla than him!

"Well, if we're gonna do this, let's do it now," Grimmjow grunted, standing up. Nnoitra's grin widened even more.

"Yes."

**Hueco Mundo Group - Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez - 4:48 PM, July 19**

Damn it. The freak was watching him again. Hadn't he watched Grimmjow enough during their supper?

But they had bigger problems to worry about. The sky looked more fucked up than usual. There was also a slight wind.

Ulquiorra seemed on edge.

"I think-" Grimmjow was cut off by a sharp gust of wind, blowing sand around wildly.

"You. Ggio. Get on my back," Nnoitra ordered. Ggio blinked.

"What?"

"You're the new Tesla. Now! We need to stay together," Nnoitra yelled. Ggio gulped and pulled himself up, clutching the taller teen's shoulders.

"This was inevitable. We are in a desert, after all," Ulquiorra said calmly, raising a hand to block the sand.

"Shut the fuck up and get on my back, Cifer," Grimmjow snarled, ignoring the weird feeling that there was somebody already on him.

"There is already someone on your back," Ulquiorra pointed out. Grimmjow looked back, eyes trailing up the delicate arm that was casually hanging down, a delicate arm that was most definitely not his.

"Hey Grimmy!" the cheerful-yet-disturbing voice of Luppi called. Grimmjow yelped.

"Ah! What the fuck are you doing?" he said, eyes widening. Nnoitra made his way through the sand and grabbed Grimmjow's sleeve.

"What did I just say? We need to stay together or we'll all die. And I don't know about you, but I don't want to be killed by sand," Nnoitra said. Grimmjow shook Luppi off of his back.

"Cifer. On my back. Now," Grimmjow said. Ulquiorra shrugged and obeyed, climbing onto Grimmjow's back. He was heavier than Luppi, but it was nothing Grimmjow couldn't handle. Grimmjow grabbed Luppi with his free hand. "You. I've had enough of you."

Luppi's eyes widened, traveling down to his sword. Grimmjow snorted. "I'm not going to kill you, though I probably should. Begone!" With that, he mustered the rest of his strength and practically threw Luppi across the sand, smirking.

"Grimmjow! You bastard!" he heard Luppi howl. Grimmjow turned to Nnoitra.

"Okay, what now?"

**Hueco Mundo Group - Ulquiorra Cifer - 4:59 PM, July 19**

"We need to make our way back to the castle," Nnoitra decided. Ulquiorra hadn't known that he could be any sort of leader, let alone a good one. But underneath that vulgar, violent exterior, there was a good leader in Nnoitra. Huh. Who would have known? "Who had that rope we found? Grimmjow, was it you?"

Ulquiorra looked down at Grimmjow. He was chewing on his lower lip. That wasn't a good sign.

"Luppi."

"Damnit, Grimmjow!" Nnoitra said, throwing his hands up in the air. "Well, fuck it. I'm done with being the leader. Someone else do it."

Nobody spoke up. Grimmjow dropped to his knees, shielding his face from the sand that was whipping around them at a greater velocity than before. Ulquiorra buried his face in Grimmjow's hair, wrinkling his nose. Well, at least he would be out of the sand.

**Death** Count: 07

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><p><strong>Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed it. :)<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**Karakura Group - Orihime Inoue - 7:30 PM, July 19**

"This is serious," Orihime realized. They all looked at her, startled. Orihime hadn't spoken for hours. She'd been thinking. Orihime may look ditzy, but she was not that stupid, ranked third in her class, actually.

"Yeah. Didn't you realize that when..." Ichigo trailed off, not wanting to mention the Mizuiro and Tatsuki incident. Orihime swallowed back tears. It made her sad that Tatsuki had died-

Of course it made her sad that Tatsuki had died, Tatsuki had been her best friend. But she could go on. For Tatsuki.

**Rukongai Group - Kiyone Kotetsu - 7:36 PM, July 19**

Kiyone was on watch. Again. It was like Isane didn't know what to do with her, so just stuck her on watch. Nemu was the smart, strong one, Isane was the leader with the first aid kit, and she was on watch.

Someone that looked faintly like Rukia - not really, but it was short and slim and dark-haired, so close enough, right? - was stumbling toward them. Their uniform was white, and it was, weirdly enough, covered with sand.

"Hey! Are you all right?" Kiyone asked, raising her voice. The figure came closer, and Kiyone realized that she had no idea what this person was.

Well, she knew it was a person, probably, but she had no idea if it was a boy or a girl. That sounded weird, but it was honest.

"I-" the person's answer was cut off by his coughing. "I'm okay, I guess."

"What's your name?" Kiyone asked. She figured it would be best to get... /it's/ name, maybe it would help her figure out whether it was male or female.

"Luppi."

Damn it. That could go either way.

"Kiyone? What are you doing out there?"

"Wait here," Kiyone said. The Luppi shrugged, and Kiyone ducked into the tent Nemu had scavenged up. Isane paused in the organizing of her medical supplies. "There's a... well... I'm not exactly sure if it's a guy or a girl, but there's a Luppi out there. She... he... it looks sick. Well, it was coughing up a lot of sand, so I don't know what's wrong with it-"

"Kiyone."

"Sorry," Kiyone said, looking at her feet. Isane stood up. "What're you doing?"

"There was a Luppi in the Hueco Mundo group," Nemu chipped in. Isane bit her lip.

"Well... maybe... we should help him-or-her," Isane said. She nodded. "Yeah. We should help him-or-her."

Isane went outside and reappeared a few minutes later, the Luppi in tow. Luppi brushed sand out of her hair. "Thanks-" she-he said, coughing again. "The... the Hueco Mundo group was just full of... well, people like Grimmjow Jeagerjaquez and Nnoitra Jiruga. No place for a lady."

"So you are a girl!" Kiyone said, grinning brightly. The Luppi looked at her and smiled.

"Maybe!"

**Seireitei Group - Kaien Shiba - 8:33 PM, July 19**

"Kaien."

Kaien looked up. Shuhei was standing in front of him, looking extremely distressed. "You come to rid me of watch duty?" Kaien asked. Shuhei shook his head.

"No, but I could... anyway, could I talk to you?"

Kaien shrugged. "Why not?"

They sat in silence for a few minutes, staring into the fire. Shuhei took a deep breath.

"Spit it out," Kaien said.

"I'm worried about Rangiku."

Kaien looked at him. "And that was so hard to say why?" he asked, running a hand through his hair. Shuhei looked embarrassed, from what Kaien could see.

"Well... I don't know. She just seems like she's going to snap at any moment, you know?"

Now that it was brought up, Rangiku had been acting weird lately. Even Yumichika's taunting hadn't affected her in the way it usually did.

"You've got a point. I'll talk to her tomorrow, okay?" Shuhei nodded. Kaien grinned, then continued. "Now, your turn for watch. Have fun!"

**Luppi Antenor - 1:21 AM, July 20**

Those idiots, those _fucking_ idiots. They had eaten up every word of his excuses, of his pity story, and they thought he was a girl. They'd believed everything, and then they'd been stupid enough to leave him on watch while they were sleeping.

Their lives would be over quickly. There was no point in prolonging them. Luppi drew his sword and went for the dark-haired one first. There had been introductions, of course, but he hadn't bothered learning the names. There had been no need. They would be dead anyway.

She was dead in an instant. Then the silver-haired one, then the blonde one. With a satisfied smirk, Luppi cleaned his sword on the blonde's uniform and helped himself to an Oreo. He had done well. Now he could go back to the others and they'd _have_ to accept him, he'd just killed off three in a matter of minutes.

Grimmjow would love him now.

**Death Count:** 10

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><p><strong>Yeah, a little short, but we've got... important stuff... or something... um... it's been a while.<strong>

**And it will be at least a few weeks until the next one, I've got tons of final projects coming up, school ends on May 16. :)**

**AurorA**


	9. Chapter 9

**Karakura Group – Orihime Inoue – 7:23 AM, July 20**

"Hey! Look! I think that's a way out of this!" Orihime said, pointing at the doorway a few feet away. Uryu adjusted his glasses and sighed.

"Orihime, I don't think you-"

Orihime stopped listening after that. She just wanted to get out of there. As soon as she stepped through the doorway, a deep purple cloud appeared above her head. She didn't know what it was, but it soon began to sink down to cover her face. It smelled like an odd mixture of Kool-Aid and maple syrup.

She coughed as it entered her nose and mouth, dropping to her knees to try and get away from it. It followed her. It suddenly concentrated, then disappeared.

**Karakura Group – Uryu Ishida – 7:28 AM, July 20**

Uryu stared in a sort of sick fascination as Orihime multiplied, the purple cloud growing larger as more orange-headed beauties appeared. "Rise," one of them – not the real Orihime, thank God – said, and the clones rose and charged.

Uryu didn't want to waste arrows, so he slipped out of the battle and went to Orihime. The purple cloud had drifted away, and she was left, staring down at the ground. "What have I done?" she whispered. Uryu bit his lip.

"I'm sure we'll be fine. We just need to kill the clones and then we can be on our way-" Uryu cut himself off as the clones began to multiply. "We may have a problem."

Orihime's lower lip trembled, and she clutched at her skirt. "It's all my fault," she whispered. Uryu didn't want to flat out agree with her, but it was kind of her fault. There were a few more minutes of silence, with Ichigo and Chad fighting the clones in the background, and then she spoke again. "Kill me."

"What?" Uryu said, eyes widening. "No- I can't. I can't kill you."

"It's the only way they'll stop multiplying, I'm sure of it," Orihime said. Uryu once again bit down on his lip.

"We could just run-"

"Run where? They've blocked the exits, and if we go through the doorway, we'll just have more to fight off."

Uryu swallowed. If there was any other way, he'd take it. But Orihime seemed certain, and she'd given reasons for her wanting to kill him. And it made sense. It all made sense that he should have to kill her. He didn't want to, but he would.

Uryu Ishida put an arrow through her heart.

**Seireitei Group – Rangiku Matsumoto – 8:01 AM, July 20**

"Rangiku!"

Rangiku blinked open her eyes. Wow. Dream within a dream. That was insane.

Kaien was standing over her, a really worried look on his face. Rangiku briefly wondered why, then dismissed it. It couldn't be anything bad; Rangiku never had bad dreams.

Well, she sometimes did, but there was never anything for a guy like Kaien to worry about in them. Mostly they were about her boobs shrinking – oh no! Had they shrunk? She could see some guys being worried about that…

"Are you coming?"

Oh, oops. While she'd been thought-rambling, Kaien had said something and was now walking away. Rangiku jumped up and, after checking to see if her boobs were still the right size, followed.

"Shuhei is worried about you," Kaien said once they were a good distance away from the group. Rangiku tilted her head to the right.

"Why?"

Kaien didn't answer her question, and instead responded with a question of his own. "Do you really think this is a dream?"

"Well… it is, isn't it?" Rangiku asked. A feeling of dread was pooling in her stomach. She glared at Kaien. "Isn't it?"

**Hueco Mundo Group – Ulquiorra Cifer – 8:27 AM, July 20**

"Screw the castle! We'll just have to find another place to stay!" Nnoitra growled. Ulquiorra rolled his eyes.

"There is no other place to stay," he pointed out. Nnoitra glared at him. Ulquiorra allowed a small smirk. Even though it was too easy to make Nnoitra mad, it was amusing. "Unless, of course, we find a way out of this section of the game."

"What about over there?" Ggio suggested, pointing at a group of buildings in the distance. "Y'know, if we would've just followed those other guys, we would have been out of here by now."

Nnoitra switched his glare from Ulquiorra to Ggio, stalking over to the shorter boy. "Shut the fuck up," he said, shoving him over. Ggio frowned from his position on the sand.

"That wasn't-"

"Too bad!"

Grimmjow made an annoyed noise deep in his throat and began to stalk toward the buildings. Ulquiorra followed, leaving Nnoitra and Ggio to handle their difficulties.

**Luppi Antenor – 9:30 AM, July 20 **

He should've taken some food with him. He was stupid. He'd walked all night, he had no idea where he was, and he was fucking _starving. _

Not technically, of course. He could probably go for a while longer before actually starving to death. But the hunger was gnawing away at his stomach, and he was tired. He would lie down and go to sleep, but who knew what would show up? He could wake up dead.

He needed to find Grimmjow. But Grimmjow was… Grimmjow was with the others. And he was alone.

He was alone.

**Death Count: **11

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><p><strong>Once again, a little on the short side. But I hope you enjoyed. :3 Review, favorite, alert, whatever. This is going to be updated regularly again, by the way. Every Thursday, unless I'm busy. And even then it'll probably be updated at least once a week…<strong>

**But, enough of my rambling. :D Have a good day.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Karakura Group – Ichigo Kurosaki – 10:00 AM, July 20**

He honestly didn't think he'd ever be able to forgive Uryu, even though he'd been justified in killing Orihime. There were three of his friends, dead. He hadn't been able to protect him. If only he'd convinced them to not go into the grocery store, or tried to turn their group away from that doorway…

But that didn't matter right now. What mattered right now was getting Uryu and Chad out safely. He didn't think he could live with himself if they ended up dying, too.

**Seireitei Group – Kaien Shiba – 10:08 AM, July 20**

He gripped the trident-thing tighter, wincing as the monster shoved Shuhei aside and into a wall. They'd gone a few days without seeing another of these damn things, but apparently they couldn't have any sort of break.

He decided to charge it, dismissing how stupid it would be to do so. It looked to be busy with Renji and Yumichika at the moment, anyway. Where had Rangiku gone?

Oh, there she was, cowering.

Damn it, why couldn't he focus? He charged the beast and sunk his trident-thing into a leg, twisting before pulling it out. The monster turned its sights on him and Kaien just barely ducked away from meeting the same fate as Shuhei, who was picking his way out of the ruins of a coincidentally collapsible wall.

However, Kaien didn't see the beast's tail speeding toward him. He flew into another wall – this one didn't collapse, thank God. Now it was just Renji and Yumichika, with random bursts of Shuhei's weapon.

Kaien probably could get up and help, but his arm really felt weird. Somehow it had gotten twisted behind him right before he hit the wall, and it felt like his wrist was at least sprained. If it got really bad he'd help out.

Yumichika was surprisingly good at fighting when he worked at it. Renji was, of course, incredibly helpful with his weapon, but Yumichika darting in and slashing at the thing – once even splitting the blade while it was inside – helped the most.

Eventually, Yumichika was able to cut the beast's throat. There was a spurt of blood, a howl, and then it was dead. Yumichika stood, soaked in blood, panting. Unsurprisingly, the next thing out of his mouth was, "_Look _at the state of my clothes! I wish I had an extra pair; it's not beautiful at all."

**Luppi Antenor – 11:11 AM, July 20**

He must be hallucinating. That couldn't be Nnoitra's spoon-hood. That couldn't be Grimmjow's bright blue hair.

And if that was Ulquiorra riding on Grimmjow's back, _Luppi would fucking kill him. _

**Hueco Mundo Group – Nnoitra Jiruga - 11:13 AM, July 20**

"Hey, there's someone over there!" Ggio chirped. Nnoitra rolled his eyes.

"Then go kill it," he said. After thinking for a bit, he corrected his statement. "No, go get it and bring it over here so I can kill it."

Ulquiorra lifted his head from Grimmjow's shoulder. The little prick had been feigning hunger and been riding on Grimmjow's back for the past few days. They still hadn't found that fucking castle again – or any food. No food at all. They were all hungry, so what made Ulquiorra so special?

Ggio bounded away. Nnoitra rolled his eyes. Fucking idiot.

Of course, when the dark-haired boy came back with Luppi, Nnoitra couldn't help but laugh at the look on Grimmjow's face.

**Hueco Mundo Group – Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez – 11:17 AM, July 20**

"What? No. No," Grimjow let go of Ulquiorra's legs and the other boy hung there for a bit before dropping. "You're dead!"

"Obviously not," Luppi sniffed. "By the way, I killed off the rest of the Rukongai team."

Nnoitra, that fucking traitor, grinned his creeper grin. "Welcome back!"

"No! No, don't welcome him back! We don't need him! Kill him! We just need us four!"

Nobody ever listened to him.

* * *

><p><strong>Ach. I'm sorry this is so short. xP I hoped you enjoyed it nevertheless. <strong>


	11. Chapter 11

**Karakura Group – Uryu Ishida – 12:30 PM, July 21**

There was a group of people in front of them. They didn't look like they'd noticed Uryu and his group yet, and a few of them seemed slightly injured.

"What're they doing?" Ichigo muttered to Chad. Chad, ever the conversationalist, shrugged. Uryu took a closer look. One of them had blood all over his clothes. If he was putting the facts together right, they'd been in a fight earlier that day.

One of them, a tall red-haired male turned his head and called a warning. Uryu took an arrow in his hand and readied to shoot.

"What are _you _doing?"

"They don't look to be the friendliest sort, Kurosaki," Uryu said. "I'd get ready for a fight."

**Seireitei Group – Renji Abarai – 12:36 PM, July 21**

"So we're going to fight more?" Yumichika asked. "Wonderful. More blood on the clothing."

"You looked like you were enjoying the fight last time," Kaien muttered. Renji listened to their conversation halfheartedly, keeping a hand on his weapon and an eye on the other group, which was coming steadily nearer.

"The fight was fun. Having nothing clean to change into wasn't. I-"

"Shut up, they're coming closer," Renji hissed, feeling the need to interrupt. Yumichika made a noise of irritation in his throat, but didn't say anything more. Rangiku, apparently going to help this time, drew her sword. Shuhei began spinning one side of his weapon. Renji looked at him.

"What? It looks menacing."

Kaien, though one of his arms was bound in a makeshift sling, gripped his trident-thing.

It appeared the other group had a flair for drama. They decided to enter the battlefield by shooting an arrow just inches from Kaien's foot, who only flinched a little.

The battle was fairly easy – five against three, one of which was an archer. True, if you added in all of the injuries their group had taken and the fact that they had to keep an eye out for arrows, it was evened out. But still fucking easy.

Renji whipped his sword-thing-whatever-it-was at the orange-haired one – he was actually pretty good, considering how weird-looking he was. As weird as it sounded, especially after noting that there were no weapons on him, Renji didn't want to tangle with the dark one. He left that to Shuhei and Kaien. Yumichika and a wavering Rangiku were trying to get the archer.

Renji grinned and attacked the orange-haired one again.

**Karakura Group – Uryu Ishida – 12:43 PM, July 21**

He reached back for another arrow and came up empty. _Damn. _There were two of them coming at him, a girl with... very large assets and what he thought was a male. A very feminine-looking, almost pretty male.

He blocked the female's strike with his bow, but wasn't quick enough to block the male's and gained a deep gash on his leg. He gritted his teeth and blocked them as best he could. From what he'd seen before he was engaged in combat with these two, everybody was busy. Nobody would be coming to help him. He was on his own, and he was going to die.

"Help Renji. I'd like to kill this one," the male said. The female shrugged and bounced away. Uryu let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. So he was going to get a fighting chance-

**Seireitei Group – Yumichika Ayasegawa – 12:46 PM, July 21**

The boy was weakening. It probably didn't help that he had very limited movement in that hideous school uniform he was wearing, but he looked weak anyway.

Also, he was favoring his left leg because of the wound Yumichika had so helpfully given him.

It wasn't very moral, of course, but it gave Yumichika sick sort of pleasure to play with his victims before he killed them. He'd played the same game with moths back home – pulling off their wings, cutting their legs, and finally smashing them into the floor with a hardback book. And then leaving them for Ikkaku to find, of course.

Ikkaku… would he see Ikkaku again? He'd lived with Ikkaku ever since his parents had died, Ikkaku being a college student and 'responsible' (if responsible meant getting drunk every weekend and sleeping when he wasn't in classes). Yumichika had enjoyed living with Ikkaku. Hopefully another team would take care of that white-clad team, because they were probably the second-strongest team here. The strongest being them, of course.

But that didn't matter. What mattered was that the boy had just hit him over the head with his bow.

Yumichika slowly turned his eyes to focus on the boy's face. He could _feel _that bruising. That was going to bruise. He was going to have a bruise on his forehead, and it wasn't going to be pretty. And neither would this boy's death.

"By the end of this, you will be begging me to kill you," Yumichika said, his voice dangerously low. The boy swallowed and took a step back.

Before the boy could react, Yumichika jumped forward and sunk his weapon into his opponent's chest, far enough away from the heart so it would simply injure him – possibly puncture the lung as well. He could see the boy holding back screams and tears.

Well, that wouldn't do.

He released the other blades, and they ripped through the boy's skin. He screamed, and Yumichika smirked. He trailed the end of one blade down the boy's arm, stopping just at the inside of the elbow. Carefully, delicately, he sunk it into the skin. The boy seemed to have no control now, screaming again as Yumichika tore the blade down through his arm. He'd dropped the bow at some point.

Well, that's no way to stay alive.

"Yumichika! Hurry up, the others have run off and we're bored!" Renji called.

Yumichika sighed. "It seems our little dance has been cut short," he murmured. The boy looked up at him. "Good-bye."

**Karakura Group – Ichigo Kurosaki – 12:58 PM, July 21**

"We forgot Uryu."

Ichigo sighed. His side hurt, he was tired, and blood was gushing from a wound on his leg. "Fuck this," he muttered. "We're going to die."

**Hueco Mundo Group – Ggio Vega – 1:30 PM, July 21**

"I found food!" he yelled as he returned to the group. Nnoitra didn't wait for him to put the two bags full of food and instead started to dig through them while they were in his arms. It was getting increasingly more difficult to carry them, but Ggio had a feeling that if he _did _put them down, Nnoitra would murder him.

"Grimmy, he got blueberries for ya," Nnoitra said, chucking a container of the fruit at Grimmjow's head. Grimmjow managed to catch it without crushing all of the berries and began to sullenly eat them. "Wow, there's really something wrong with him."

Luppi bounded toward them, unnaturally large smile on his face. "Did you get anything sugary? I _love _sweets," he said. Ggio involuntarily shuddered and shoved the bags into his arms, grabbing a Pepsi as he did so.

**Death Count: **12

* * *

><p><strong>Ooh, this one was fun to write. Does that make me a bad person? Cx I hope you enjoyed reading it, and if you didn't, then, well, I'm sorry. <strong>

**Have a nice week! The next chapter will be up next Tuesday!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Karakura Group – Yasutora Sado – 2:01 PM, July 21**

Ichigo was upset. Chad could understand why. After they were sure that the others were gone, they'd decided to see if they could find Uryu.

They couldn't. All that was in Uryu's place was a lot of blood. And his bow. Ichigo picked up the bow, and took a deep breath.

"I hate him," he said. Chad could see him shaking. Rarely did Ichigo get overwhelmed by his emotions like this. "I hate the bastard that shoved us in here. What sort of person likes killing kids? That's all- that's all that's happening here."

Chad didn't say anything, just watching Ichigo rant.

"Uryu's dead. Orihime's dead. Tatsuki's dead. Mizuiro's dead. _They're all dead, and we'll be next."_

**Seireitei Group – Rangiku Matsumoto – 9:11 PM, July 21**

It was real. It was all real.

She couldn't take that. If it was all real, that meant that Izuru was really dead, that Yumichika had really killed that skinny boy in the school uniform, that Renji had killed the cute blond kid.

It meant that she was going to die.

No. She couldn't. She was… everyone else could die. Not her. She had a life. She had a boyfriend. She was going to be a junior this fall, she couldn't die. She had to finish high school. Go to college. Maybe eventually settle down. Have kids. With Gin.

She'd never see Gin again. Ever. She'd never see her silver-haired demon-fox. Ever.

They were all asleep. She would leave now. And find a way out.

**Seireitei Group – Shuhei Hisagi – 9:23 PM, July 21**

Shuhei yawned and sat up. Wow, he hadn't slept that long; it was still night. Early night, too, he figured. Everyone else was asleep.

Everyone… everyone except Rangiku. Rangiku was gone.

Shuhei sighed and laid back down, staring up at the moon. This was bad. Now Rangiku was probably dead, too.

**Hueco Mundo Group – Grimmjow Jeagerjaquez – 1:30 AM, July 22**

He yawned, glancing around at the deserted street. He understood why they needed a guard, yeah, but what he didn't understand was why they had such long shifts. Or just used the useless ones for guards; that way, if there was a battle the next day, all of the good fighters – AKA him and Nnoitra – wouldn't be tired. But no. Luppi was sleeping. Ulquiorra, who wasn't as useless as Luppi but still really too small to do any good, was sleeping. Ggio, who was fast but not strong in the least, was sleeping.

And Grimmjow was on guard duty. And also almost sleeping.

Life really didn't seem fair sometimes.

**Death Count: **12

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><p><strong>Uh, extremely short chapter. xP I hope it was interesting, at least. Yeah… uh… sorry for the short chapter, and have a nice week. :)<strong>


	13. Chapter 13

**Karakura Group – Ichigo Kurosaki – 6:31 AM, July 22**

It was quiet with just Chad. Really quiet. At least with Uryu there had been arguments. Not that Ichigo didn't like Chad; no, Chad was his friend. But-

"What do we have here?"

Ichigo was shaken out of his thoughts when he saw a sword go through Chad's chest. He drew his own and just barely blocked a large, weirdly-shaped weapon.

Great. Now Chad was dead and he was going to die, too.

**Hueco Mundo Group – Ggio Vega – 6:33 AM, July 22**

He couldn't do much more but watch as Nnoitra and Grimmjow killed the orange-haired one. The orange-haired one was putting up a pretty good fight, but it was nothing compared to the raw power of Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez and Nnoitra Jiruga.

As creepy as it was, it was kind of exciting. Battles to the death were exciting. Blood and dead bodies were exciting.

_God, _he was turning savage.

Once the orange-haired boy was dead, Nnoitra turned to him. "Well that was fun!" he said. "Only one team left."

Ggio nodded, glancing at the two dead bodies one last time.

**Seireitei Group – Renji Abarai – 8:47 AM, July 22**

Renji stretched, yawning and sitting up. Oh shit, he was the last one awake. Usually he could count on Rangiku being last to wake, but apparently she was up already and doing something, because he couldn't see her anywhere.

"Hey, where's Rangiku?" he asked Yumchika.

"How should I know? Ask Shuhei," the narcissist said, going back to brushing his hair. Renji had no idea where Yumichika had gotten his hands on a brush, but, you know, whatever. "And before you ask, he's outside with Kaien."

Renji nodded his thanks and got up, yawning again. He walked outside, only to stumble upon what looked like a very serious conversation. "Rangiku's gone," was his greeting. "Do you know where she is?"

Shuhei shook his head, looking supremely worried. "That's what we were talking about. I woke up late last night – or probably really early this morning – and she was gone. I don't know where she is, and none of us can figure out why she left."

"I think she was insane," Kaien said. "I talked to her a bit before she disappeared, and she was under the impression that it was just a dream. Maybe she realized it wasn't."

**Hueco Mundo – Luppi Antenor – 9:12 AM, July 22**

Grimmjow seemed in a good mood ever since they'd killed those guys. Luppi had liked watching Grimmjow – and Nnoitra, but Luppi didn't pay attention to him – toy with the orange-haired one, until they finally killed him.

In fact, Grimmjow was in _such a good mood_ that he didn't try to distance himself from Luppi when Luppi walked really close to him. Seriously, their arms were _almost touching. _And usually when this happened, Grimmjow just kind of looked at him and moved away.

But not this time. This time Grimmjow just let him walk, talking to Nnoitra. Luppi halfway listened to their conversation, knowing better than to interrupt.

Ggio and Ulquiorra – _hah, he wasn't stealing Grimmjow now – _were behind them, Ggio rambling on about something or other and Ulquiorra staying silent. Luppi hoped that Ulquiorra was the other one of them to die.

Because they had one team left to kill, and then they'd be out of there.

**Death Count: **14

* * *

><p><strong>I'm really sorry these are getting so short. : I don't know why they're so short, but… well, they are. I hope you enjoyed it anyway. :D So, who do you think'll win? Hueco Mundo or Seireitei?**

…**To be honest, I'm not quite sure how I'll end it. Cx**

**But, anyway, have a nice week. :3**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hueco Mundo Group - Ulquiorra Cifer - 3:32 PM, July 22**

The rest of the day passed fairly smoothly. Grimmjow was in a good mood, so there were no irritating - albiet entertaining - arguments with Luppi. They only had to defeat one more group, and then they would be proclaimed the victors. Then they could go home and things would be as they always were.

It was rather nice, now that he thought about it.

**1:32 AM, July 23**

_Just kill one._

She didn't know where the voice had come from, but it had come from somewhere and she would listen to it. It was a good idea, to just kill one. She didn't know why. Just that it was. She didn't know which one she would kill. Perhaps the thin golden-eyed one with the braid. Perhaps the one with the large green eyes. Perhaps the tall one with the spoon for a head. Perhaps the blue-haired one with an amazing physique.

Or perhaps the girlish one.

The girlish one reminded her of someone, but she couldn't remember who. It was someone that she knew she knew, but she couldn't remember quite who. It was like that a lot now. She couldn't quite remember anybody, even herself. She was a mystery to herself.

But the killing. The killing of the girlish one with pretty purple eyes that reminded her so much of someone else. Someone else that she'd argued with and contemplated killing many times - jokingly, probably, she thought, maybe. But she had a blade that could be used for killing, and she could use it to kill the girlish one.

The girlish one had been keeping watch with the blue-haired one. The blue-haired one was sleeping. All of the others were sleeping. It was like the fates wanted her to kill the girlish one. He was the only one awake, but he looked tired and not-too-strong. She had found out that she was quite strong, if she wanted to be. She rarely wanted to be, but at the moment she did. She wanted to be strong more than anything at the moment.

The girlish one saw her when she stepped out of the shadows - she'd been following the group from afar for almost... for a long time. This was the first time any of them had seen her, or so she thought. She figured. She was probably right, unless she was wrong. Did that make sense?

Of course it didn't make sense.

The girlish one demanded to know what she was doing in a shrill, almost terrified voice. The girlish one had a sword like she did, except his had a pink hilt compared to her red.

She attacked him. Oddly, the noise they were making didn't wake the others. Even the blue-haired one, who wasn't sleeping all that far away, simply made a noise and curled into a ball, like a cat. She half-expected him to have a tail.

The girlish one demanded to know her name and business again in the same shrill voice. She decided that answering his question wasn't important and she simply continued to attack. Her sword clanged against his and he was driven back. He didn't seem to be fighting back.

All the easier for her, then.

With a move she didn't know she had, the boy's sword was out of his hand and he screamed. She wondered why; she hadn't even hurt him.

Then she realized that the boy's friend's were stirring. She stabbed him in the stomach and ran, not paying attention to her surroundings.

**Hueco Mundo Group - Luppi Antenor - 1:39 AM, July 23**

It hadn't worked and now he was in _pain, _and the pain was _horrible _and he could see the blood staining his white uniform and he could feel the pain but he couldn't really _believe _it, he couldn't die, all the others could die, they were just extras in The Luppi Antenor Story. But he was the _main character, _goddammit, he couldn't _die. _

The pain was still there, still sharp, and that somehow made it easier to think. And it made it easier for him to come to the conclusion that he was most certainly going to die.

But he _couldn't_, he _couldn't _die, what about his life, what about finishing high school and going to college, _fuck, _he was only going to be a sophomore this year! _That wasn't enough time._

"Put him out of it!" he heard someone - Ggio Vega, by the sound of it - call. Ggio Vega sounded sick. Luppi coughed, pain seizing his lower body again. There was _blood, _goddammit _he was coughing up blood._

It was Grimmjow that did the honors, in the end, it was Grimmjow, his _beautiful perfect Grimmjow _that killed him.

**Hueco Mundo Group - Grimmjow Jeagerjaquez - 1:42 AM, July 23**

For some reason, Luppi's death saddened him. He didn't know why. He still hated the little prick, but dying... that's why he'd killed him. Because he looked in too much pain to bear, too much pain for even any of them to bear to look at.

He felt another stab of sympathy for the dead boy, but pushed it away. Now they could win.

**Seireitei Group - Shuhei Hisagi - 7:30 AM, July 23**

"Well, let's head out!" Kaien said. His voice was almost sickeningly, falsely cheerful. He wasn't the only one that was putting on a front. Yumichika was even bouncier than usual - though that maybe wasn't a front, he hadn't been fond of Rangiku - and Renji laughed at everything anyone said between coughs.

Oh yeah, there was another thing that was going wrong. Renji had somehow gotten sick. And now they would all die and the other team would win. Watch, they'd catch Renji's random illness and die from _that. _Wouldn't that be pathetic?

They walked along for a while, mostly in silence, apart from Renji's coughs. Yumichika bounded ahead of them, whistling a pretty tune.

Suddenly he stopped. "Uh-oh..." he said.

Shuhei left Renji with Kaien and rushed up to the narcissist's side. Yumichika was standing in front of a pit teeming with snakes. Snakes that were slithering over the body of a dead Rangiku.

**Death Count: **16

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><p><strong>A bit better than last chapter, no? Cx <strong>

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, have a nice week, et cetera. Oh, the next chapter will be the final chapter with the showdown between Hueco Mundo and Seireitei. :D Hooray!**

_**I Write Like says this chapter was written like... Stephen King! **_

**[I just found that immensely cool.]**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hueco Mundo Group - Nnoitra Jiruga - 11:11 AM, July 23**

For some reason, Grimmjow'd been quiet since Antenor was killed. Nnoitra had no idea why; they'd all hated the kid, so why was Grimmjow sad? He was supposed to be one of the at-least-slightly strong ones.

Nnoitra being the other, of course.

But _fuck_, Grimmjow was being annoying with his moping around and whatnot. You'd think he was in love with the guy or something.

Ggio, who had been wandering around ahead of them - the kid was fast, he'd give him that - came speeding toward them, breathing heavily. "G-group," he panted. "Four. Just around that corner."

Nnoitra grinned and gripped his weapon tightly. "Ya ready Grimmy?" he yelled to the blue-haired teen. Grimmjow sent him a half-hearted grin and drew his sword. Ggio looked excited, bouncing from foot to foot. Ulquiorra looked the same as he always did - bored.

They heard the other group before they saw them. One of them was sick, it sounded like.

This was going to be easy.

**Seireitei Group - Shuhei Hisagi - 11:15 AM, July 23**

Shuhei dropped Renji and dodged the tall, spoon-hooded one's weapon, gritting his teeth. Of course they had to be attacked. Of course. They were all going to die now, because two out of four of these guys looked extremely strong, and Renji was sick. How wonderful.

Kaien was facing the blue-haired one, Yumichika had taken one of the shorter ones - the one with green eyes. The golden-eyed one was stalking around Renji.

Shuhei had planned to, you know, maybe help Renji out a bit, but then Spoony's weapon came crashing down at him again and he was forced to abandon all hopes of helping.

Shuhei spun one end of his weapon - he'd decided to give it a name, Kazeshini sounded cool, right? - at Spoony. Spoony dodged, grinning like a madman and forcing the weapon at Shuhei again. Shuhei winced as it rammed into his knee, falling. He pulled Kazeshini back. Spoony, not expecting this move, was taken by surprise and hit in the shoulder.

Spoony lurched forward, managing to jam a corner of his weapon into Shuhei's arm as he came down. Now they were both on the ground, Shuhei pretty sure that he wasn't going to be able to get up again.

"Not bad," Spoony said. He hoisted his weapon above his head. Shuhei could only stare up at it, shaking. "But not good enough."

**Hueco Mundo Group - Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez - 11:20 AM, July 23**

The dude with the trident was actually pretty good. Grimmjow was having a nice time fighting him, because they were actually pretty evenly matched. "Hey, haven't we fought before?" Grimmjow asked. Trident nodded, blocking Grimmjow's strike. He had one of his arms in a sling and he was still keeping up with Grimmjow.

"You killed Izuru, and we killed one of you guys-"

"Oh, yeah, Tesla. Nnoitra was pretty messed up about that," Grimmjow said, narrowly missing being stabbed in the heart. "Too bad for you guys that the red-head's sick, though."

"Yeah, that kind of sucks," Trident said, stabbing at Grimmjow again. Grimmjow ducked out of the way and slashed a long cut up Trident's good arm. Trident grimaced. "Thanks for that."

"No problem."

**Seireitei Group - Kaien Shiba - 11:22 AM, July 23**

He didn't know how long he'd be able to keep this up. One of his arms was practically useless, the other was getting cut to shreds, and he was wasting his breath by keeping up a casual conversation with the blue-haired guy he was fighting.

"I'm Grimmjow, by the way," blue-haired guy said.

"Kaien."

"Nice to meet you-" Faster than Kaien would have thought possible, Grimmjow wound his arm back and stabbed Kaien in the heart. "Too bad we didn't get to chat longer."

**Hueco Mundo Group - Ggio Vega - 11:29 AM, July 23**

It was stupid, yeah, but he felt really bad about just killing the guy sitting on the ground, coughing. Sure, the redhead had started off on his feet, but now he was just sitting there, eyes closed, coughing.

Ggio didn't want to kill anyone, let alone a sick person.

**Seireitei Group - Renji Abarai - 11:30 AM, July 23**

Fuck, fuck, _fuck _he was dead. Here he was, sitting on the ground, coughing, while everyone else was being killed. And the guy that he supposed was going to kill him was just circling him like a cat.

"Just- just kill me," Renji said, letting out another throat-scraping cough. "Please."

**Hueco Mundo Group - Ulquiorra Cifer - 11:32 AM, July 23**

This couldn't be happening. The femine boy was beating him. He, Ulquiorra Cifer, was losing. And it hurt.

The feminine boy looked to be having fun, a small smirk on his face as he drove Ulquiorra back against the wall. Ulquiorra just barely managed to block or dodge the strikes. He gained a few minor wounds, but nothing that would kill him in the end.

Of couse, if things kept going the way they were going at the moment, he would be dead.

**Seireitei Group - Yumichika Ayasegawa - 11:36 AM, July 23**

He felt like he wanted to laugh, but that would make him look like a psychopath. And he really wasn't, probably. So he kept striking at the pretty little green-eyed one. The green-eyed one wasn't as weak as he originally looked, but he still wasn't strong enough to beat Yumchika Ayasegawa.

He chanced a look around the battlefield. They were all dead. A slight, golden-eyed boy was throwing up. A handsome blue-haired teen was laughing manically over Kaien's dead body. And Spoony was just grinning.

The pretty green-eyed one took his distraction to attack, and Yumichika barely had enough time to react. He didn't block it fully, but he stopped it from killing him at least.

"Need some help, Ulquiorra?"

Yumichika didn't have time to react before he was impaled on a sword.

"What-" Yumichika gasped, looking down at the blade protruding from his chest with a sort of disconnected confusion. "I- Ikkaku- help-"

**Hueco Mundo Group - Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez - 11:42 AM, July 23**

"May I present to you the winners of the sixteenth game - Hueco Mundo Group!"

Grimmjow grinned and pulled his sword out of the Luppi-like one. Ulquiorra nodded to him. Ggio joined the two, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Nnoitra wandered over as well.

"Well, we won," Nnoitra said.

"School's going to be so boring after this," Ggio muttered.

**Death Count: **20

**Winners: **Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, Nnoitra Jiruga, Ggio Vega, Ulquiorra Cifer

* * *

><p><strong>And it's over. <strong>

**Yeah.**

**So.**

**Bye.**

**Have a nice life?  
><strong>


	16. Epilogue

**Nnoitra Jiruga – July 25 – 7:31 AM**

He'd missed the funeral by a couple of days. After they'd won The Game, they'd all passed out for some weird reason. The next thing Nnoitra knew, he was at the hospital. He wasn't really injured, unlike Ulquiorra, so he got out after a day.

But he'd fucking _missed Tesla's funeral. _So now he was at the cemetery, walking through the rows of headstones. He'd heard that everybody who had died during The Game was over by the new section. He wondered why nobody ever noticed that every ten years a shitload of teenagers died.

Maybe they knew but just ignored it.

Nnoitra shook his head free of unnecessary thoughts and kept walking. Soon he got to the newest section, studying each gravestone. Mizuiro Kojima… Tatsuki Arisawa… Izuru Kira… there. Tesla Lindocruz. Nnoitra swallowed and knelt by the statue, studying it. Tesla Lindocruz, B. May 13, 1995, D. July 17, 2011. There was nothing more than that.

"Fuck," Nnoitra hissed, balling his hands into fists. "Fuck you, Tesla!"

Hands shaking, he pulled a crumpled violet out of his pocket and threw it on the grave. "Don't ever say I never cared about you," Nnoitra said. "But don't ever say I did, either."

With that he turned and walked away, digging his fingernails into his palms. Dammit, he hated this.

**Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez – July 25 – 9:11 AM**

Grimmjow yawned and blinked open his eyes. "Grimmjow!" someone squealed. That sounded weirdly like… Nel?

"Nel?" he asked. The green-haired girl popped into view, grinning madly. "You went missing for _days_! You and all those other people! I'm just glad that you're back."

She hugged him, and he was momentarily distracted by her gigantic breasts pressed against him. He shook those thoughts out of his head and grinned. "Why are you in here, anyway?"

"Well, you got released from the hospital last night…" Grimmjow nodded. "And your mom let me in. Wanna go visit Ulquiorra? I heard he's conscious now."

"_Need some help, Ulquiorra?"_

"Yeah, sure," he said. He could just pretend the entire Game had never happened. He hadn't killed people. Certainly not. "Let's go."

**Ggio Vega – July 25 – 11:21 AM**

"C'mon Vega, tell us where you were!"

Ggio grinned and shook his head. Avirama narrowed his eyes. It looked like he wanted to kill Ggio, but Ggio had gotten used to people looking like that in the past week or so. However long the Game had been.

"Ggio Vega!"

"Is that Nnoitra Jiruga?" Findorr asked, peering out the window. "It is!"

"What does he want?" Avirama asked, cracking his knuckles.

"Ggio!"

"Me, I guess," Ggio said, shrugging and bounding down the stairs to the door. Nnoitra was standing in the rain, arms crossed. "What?"

"You're coming with me."

"Why?"

"You're the new Tesla, remember?"

**Ulquiorra Cifer – July 25 – 1:01 PM**

He should have guessed that his first guests would be people he didn't like. (Of course, he didn't really like anybody, so unless nobody came to visit him, it would have been inevitable that his first guests would be people he didn't like. That would be nice, if nobody visited him. But too late for that now.)

Grimmmjow Jaegerjaquez and Neliel tu Odelschwanck stood over him, Neliel grinning like an idiot and Grimmjow grinning like someone was about to die. "Why are you here?" Ulquiorra asked, inwardly wincing. It hurt to speak.

"I wanted to see you!" Neliel said, still smiling. "And I dragged Grimmjow along, too."

Ulquiorra rolled his eyes. "Well, if you had a point in coming, get to it. I feel like going back to sleep."

Grimmjow rolled his eyes. "You never change, do you?"

**Kisuke Urahara – July 25 – 3:41 PM**

"Do you think they'll do good in ten years?" Yoruichi asked. Kisuke shrugged, not really thinking about what she'd just said. "Are you even listening to me?"

"No."

Yoruichi rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand. "Come on, let's go get something to eat. I'm starving."

* * *

><p><strong>A lot of people were asking for an epilogue, so… will this suffice? Cx I hope it's good enough – it's a little short, but I just typed it up quick today. So, once again, have a nice life. :)<strong>


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